Celestial
by jshai
Summary: Laurent and Bella are in the meadow, but this time, Alice has a vision of the encounter. What will she and the rest of the Cullen's do when Alice's vision suddenly goes black? Starts in New Moon, better summary will come later.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: Here is my newest story, Celestial. I'm still working on Cerulean Star, and I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to come back to this story. There are a couple of factors: 1) I want to finish Cerulean Star before taking on a new story, 2) I want to see how many reviews I get for this story. If the reviews aren't there, I probably won't continue it, and 3) I want to use a Beta for this story, but I also don't want to search for one. So I figured I'd post the first chapter of this story in hopes that my Beta is reading this and is somewhat familiar with my writing style. So if anyone of you is interested and is registered as a Beta on fanfiction, please PM me. Thanks, enjoy! (I hope)**_

Alice POV

There was something really wrong with what I was seeing in this vision. The meadow? I was almost certain of it. I only knew what it looked like from the very vague description that Edward gave to me. But it was all wrong. There were two people standing in the middle. Bella was one of them, of that I was absolutely sure. But she looked terrified. Who was the other person with her? He, I was positive the second person was a man, made a decision to tell Bella the full story.

I let out a choked sob as I realized what the mysterious figure was saying and I immediately knew who he was. I felt Jasper's arms caress and wrap around me. Then almost in a split second the decision to kill Bella was made. "Noooooooo!"

"Where's Edward?" I asked immediately when my vision suddenly was black without any warning.

"Alice, what is it? What did you see?" Jasper was already containing me and Esme rushed over to me as well. Without Edward to immediately see what my vision was from my head, there was no way for anyone to have the ability to know what my visions were as I was having them. And I didn't need to distract my mind with songs and translations or any of my other tricks. There wasn't any time for any of that.

"I have to get to Forks. Bella is in trouble." I wanted to ignore the fact that my gift was still in a state of black when it came to Bella. It had done that a few times in the past but my vision always came back. I was clinging to the hope that this was another fluke. But what was even more disturbing was that the frequency of Bella's black-outs was increasing. And I was a vampire, I don't have flukes.

"Alice. What's wrong?" Jasper's anxiety was magnified with what he was feeling from me, and perhaps Esme. Of course Esme would feel anxious about bad news regarding Bella. She had hoped that Bella was going to join our family too.

I swallowed back the sweet venom that was pooling in my mouth as I recalled my last vision. "Laurent had Bella in the meadow." I realized then what was giving me a bad feeling about my vision. Laurent's eyes were blood red. He didn't stick to the diet with Irina and her sisters. "He made a decision to kill her." I looked straight into Jasper's eyes and whispered, "Instead of handing her over to Victoria to be tortured."

There was a collective hiss from my husband and mother. They loved Bella _almost _as much as I did. The only one who loved her more than me was my idiot of a brother.

"Alice, you're not going alone. I'm coming with you." Jasper valiantly gestured. He never forgave himself for what happened on Bella's eighteenth birthday. Edward tried convincing Jasper it wasn't his fault. But Jasper knew better than to believe him, because he could feel Edward's feelings. He could feel Edward's guilt and regret and no one could deny that we didn't know the atmosphere between Edward and Bella's relationship was now going to be strained. But no one could have predicted that Edward was going to force us to move away from Bella. Not even me, and I'm the psychic.

"Alice, I'm coming with you as well. There's no getting rid of us." Esme offered me a smile and I could see that she was right. Esme and Jasper were standing in the middle of Bella's house with me in the next vision.

"Fine, Esme leave a note for Carlisle and have him call us when he gets in from his shift. If we leave now we won't be bothered by any cops for a few hours so we can really drive. Jasper, can you try to get a hold of Edward? I want to know just how far away from Edward is from Victoria."

I ran to the car, Edward would be so mad that I'm taking his Aston Martin Vanquish, but it was the only car besides Carlisle's that had the heavy tint. And besides, Edward wasn't here anymore, he had no say to what happened to any of his possessions anymore. The silly boy hardly ever drove it anyway.

It only took a few moments to pass before Esme and Jasper piled into the car. I had no idea when the vision was to take place, or if it already happened. The fact that Bella's future was still a void did not help my anxiety one bit, though Jasper quickly helped me out in that area. No one said a word as we left Ithaca, New York . We all knew there was only one thing that mattered and that was Bella.

It was several hours, more than a few state lines and a pit stop for gas before I spoke. "Esme, your phone." Just seconds later her phone started to ring, but Esme had already opened it before it could finish its first ring. My family was quite used to me doing that and there was no hesitation to pick it up.

"Hello my love. Sorry we couldn't be there when you came home. Alice said it was urgent that we left right away."

"What's wrong? Your note only said you were going to Forks. Is it Bella?" We could hear Carlisle perfectly over the receiver.

"It was a disturbing vision of Alice's. We're just hoping there is something that we can do to try to prevent it." Esme informed him.

"Does Edward know?" Esme looked back at Jasper who only shook his head sadly.

"No. And honey, neither do Rose and Emmett. I don't know how Rose would react to our involvement. You know Bella wasn't always her favorite person. And don't tell Edward. If you do happen to speak with him, only ask him where he is and if he's on Victoria's trail still. Carlisle, this is pretty serious."

Esme filled Carlisle in on what my vision was as I continued driving at insane speeds. When they hung up, we returned to silence. We didn't want to disturb each other's thoughts, though I would have welcomed the distraction. Because of the way Laurent was speaking in my vision, it seemed it was a real time decision, which meant the reason I was still seeing black was because Laurent killed Bella. I even tried seeing Charlie a few times, and I was still coming up blank.

I'd never been so worried about something my vision showed me in my entire existence. But this was completely different. It was Bella, which only further annoyed me when we had to stop for more gas yet again.

The sun was starting to set and the rain was gleaming in the late ray of light. Better that than us. I'd been driving for a straight twenty hours and I was still unable to see anything with Bella. It was like a black hole had swallowed up the entire future of the Swan family. My worst fears were slowly invading my mind while I continued to piece everything together.

My mind went completely blank.

My dead heart sank.

Welcome to Forks: Population 3118.

By the time we reached Bella's house, the silence was beyond deafening.

"Are you coming in or are you two waiting here?" I asked, but didn't wait for an answer. I ran from the car at a human's pace to the front door. Bella and Charlie still kept their key under the eave of the door, I'd have to talk to them about that, anyone could just walk through the door. My nose wrinkled as a draft from the door invited me in, and then Jasper's voice called out to me.

"Alice!" I looked back at him to see what the commotion was but a tumbling sound caught my attention almost too late.

Half expecting someone to be falling down the steps, I quickly composed myself to the danger that I saw before me. Instead of my sweet Bella, there was instead a boy, that one Bella once referred to as Jacob, running full speed and charging towards me. I readied myself ready to attack the shaking kid when I heard the sweetest thing.

"Jacob! Stop!" Jacob came to a standstill as he turned his head behind him. I followed his line of sight and saw Bella at the top of the steps.

"Bella!" I ran towards my friend but Jacob let out an inhumanly possible growl.

"Jacob stop it. You aren't being nice." Bella cautiously walked down the steps, and I couldn't tell if it was because she was so clumsy or if she was scared of me. I wished I knew if it was the former. Jasper and Esme rushed into the now cramped house and stood with me as we watched Bella reach the bottom step.

"Bella don't." Jacob pleaded with her, grabbing her wrist tightly. That did not get a well received response from me. I matched his earlier growl ferociously as Esme restrained me by my shoulder and Jasper wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him. I could feel a wave of serenity flow through me but I shook it off. If this little kid thought that he was going to hurt Bella, he had another thing coming to him.

"Jacob, the Cullen's are always welcome here. And since they haven't broken the treaty, there is no reason to attack them." Bella never once took her eyes off of me, even as she spoke to Jacob.

"I can't protect you from bloodsuckers if you invite them into your home."

I scoffed at his remark. "We don't need to be invited in, this isn't Hollywood." But then it hit me he knew what we were. Why else would he make that off base remark. It was unbelievable that Bella told him about our secret.

"Stop it. Jacob, the Cullen's are my guests, and I will invite them into my home whether they need an invitation or not. If you don't like it, then leave." To make her point, Bella pointed out the door past my family.

The scowl on Jacob's face was unremarkable. He looked at us only briefly but then turned towards Bella. "You'd choose them over me? Why don't you just let them bite you, again. You obviously want to be dead like them too." Jacob turned back around, facing my family and stormed out.

We just continued staring at each other for a few seconds after the near fiasco.

Bella POV

"Jacob! Stop!" I called, my voice finally working.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Standing in the foyer of my house was Alice Cullen.

"Bella!" Alice called out to me and started running towards me but Jacob let out a ferocious growl. I saw him visibly shaking and I was worried he was going to change into a wolf right in my house. I wouldn't even know how to begin to explain the damage to Charlie about his living room.

I started walking down the steps, scared that I was putting myself between mortal enemies. A werewolf and a vampire. "Jacob, stop it. You aren't being nice." With each step I noticed that Alice wasn't alone. I caught my breath when I saw Jasper and Esme, and without meaning to I began searching behind her for the rest of the Cullens. For him. But even when I couldn't find him, my eyes went back to Alice.

"Bella, don't." Jacob pleaded with me darkly. My wrist was in pain from the way he was grasping it and I winced from the pain on instinct. I was just aware of the low growl that roared from Alice's chest. The sudden movement from Esme and Jasper, who up until that point stayed in the doorframe, were now grabbing Alice to keep her calm. I only hoped that Jasper was also sending some calming feelings to Jacob.

"Jacob, the Cullen's are always welcome here. And since they haven't broken the treaty, there is no reason to attack them." I tried breaking my wrist from his grip but with his newfound strength, it was going to be nearly impossible. Surprisingly though, Jacob relented and let me go. Instantly, I started rubbing the pained wrist, hoping that Jake didn't sprain anything.

"I can't protect you from bloodsuckers if you invite them into your home."

"We don't need to be invited in, this isn't Holly wood." Alice retorted to Jacob's comment. I rolled my eyes, at the both of them. Here were two mythical creatures that by all means of sanity shouldn't exist, arguing over who had a right to stand in my living room.

"Stop it. Jacob, the Cullen's are my guests and I will invite them into my home whether they need an invitation or not. If you don't like it, then leave." I pointed to the front door as he looked back at me with his big eyes. I immediately regretted my words because to him he only heard that I was choosing them over him.

Jacob looked at me, a look of pure injury and scowled. "You'd choose them over me? Why don't you just let them bite you, again? You obviously want to be dead like them too." He glared at my scar and I quickly covered it up with my sleeve before watching him retreat, leaving me alone with Alice, Esme and Jasper.

I watched his figure leaving unsure of just how hurt I was by his words. I was hurt, there was no denying that. He might as well said I was already dead to him, at least that was how he had acted. I backed myself to the wall and I slid down to the bottom stair, now wondering why Alice was standing in my house. My feelings were all over the place, hurt by Jake, confused with the Cullen's, I had love, despair, more hurt, and anxiety entangled with one another and I wasn't even sure Jasper could sort my emotions out for me.

"What are you doing here?" I finally asked since no one seemed to want to speak first.

"I needed to see you. I just didn't expect you to be alive." Alice said, though the cadences of her tone made it seem more like a question.

"You needed to see me but you thought I was dead? Alice you're not making any sense. And please come in, all of you." I got up from the step and moved my company into the kitchen. Charlie was going to be home soon and I needed to start his dinner. I pulled the pork chops that I had marinating in the fridge and started the oven. "So, you wanted to see dead Bella, and is shocked speechless that I'm alive." I looked at all three who, at least Jasper and Esme reserved all looks to Alice.

"I had a very disturbing vision of you Bella and I couldn't just stand by and let it happen, regardless of what my idiot brother told me." Alice started but I interrupted her.

"Edward told you not to look for me? He really said that?"

"He thought a 'clean break' was just what you needed." Alice mocked Edward's voice and manner perfectly and I nearly smirked. "Anyways, I think I watched you die. Sort of, your future just faded to black, I was really scared for you."

"Wait," I held up my hand for her to stop. "You say you sort of watched me die. Alice what was your vision?"

"You were in the middle of the meadow, the one Edward took you to, and Laurent was about to kill you, and that's when the vision went dead, and I assumed you did too."

The plate that I had just taken out of the cabinet slipped from my hands and I waited to hear the smash as it hit the floor, but it never came. I looked down and saw Esme had caught and placed it on the counter.

"L-La-Laurent? That happened yesterday." I couldn't even speak anymore. Esme, being the closest to me helped me sit in a chair to keep from swaying. I closed my eyes as I regained my composure.

"We got here as fast as we could. But what happened Bella?"

"Umm. Laurent was spying, trying to see if I was still under your protection for Victoria. She wants to kill me since James was killed by Edward. But he was currently alone and thought it was a better fate for me if he just killed me, sparing me from Victoria's torture. But just as he was getting ready to attack, these wolves came into the meadow and scared him off. I only figured out this morning that Jacob is a werewolf and he just told me that they killed Laurent but Victoria keeps coming back."

"Wait, Victoria is here?" All three of them perked up with that information and began speaking really fast and low, I couldn't even make out one word that they were saying.

"Yeah, I'm glad you guys aren't being rude or anything like that." I muttered.

"Bella, I'm sorry. It's just-," Esme spoke for the first time since being in the house. "Well it's just, the last time we spoke with Edward he said he had tracked her to South America. And as far as we know he's still there."

"You don't know where Edward is?" Esme shook her head.

"He only checks in every few months or so." Alice informed me. I nodded my head taking the information in.

"Bella you really shouldn't hang out with werewolves. They're extremely volatile." Alice said matter of factly.

"Oh because vampires are so much better? Alice do you even have an idea of what I went through when you just up and left me? On more than one occasion I'm sure Charlie wanted to have me committed and I couldn't tell you how many times he tried convincing me to move to Jacksonville. I broke down. I was empty. I was nothing. That is what vampires can do to someone." I closed my eyes to fight back the tears that were welling up. "Without Jacob, the werewolf that just left my house, I couldn't even begin to describe the horror that you would have walked back to."

Everyone cast their eyes down to the ground and I shook my head pitifully before walking back over to the stove. I checked the pork chops and opened a bag of cut red potatoes and stuck them in a casserole dish. I sprinkled some salt and pepper on them and stuck them in the oven alongside the pork chops. I turned back around and the chairs that were once occupied were empty. They left me again without a word.

"Typical."


	2. Chapter 2: Some Reunion

**A/N: Hello fellow fanfictioners! Yes I'm finally back from my hiatus and ready to continue this story. I will try to update once a week, Monday's worked best in the past. I still don't have a beta for this story which is a bit disappointing because it was something that I really wanted to try out this go around. I contacted several people who had beta profiles that I liked but they never responded to me. So if any of you want to give it a shot please pm me. So without further ado, I hope you enjoy the chapter. And please don't forget to review!**

The closest to religion that Charlie had was going out on a boat and being one with God, nature, and a fishing rod. Sunday's were lazy days for me, especially since I finished my homework Friday night. Charlie promised to bring home some fish and Harry Clearwater's fish fry for dinner so there was literally nothing for me to do on this lazy, sunny Sunday.

I grabbed a book, Wuthering Heights of course, and a blanket outside for a little sun. There was no way I expected to catch some color, I'd lived in Phoenix for most of my life and not once did I even get sunburned. But the sun was warm and it reminded me of how much I missed it.

It was cooler than I thought it would be even though it was still the beginning of spring. The sun was a bit deceiving and I soon wrapped half the blanket around me before returning to my book. My sun drunkenness was soon spoiled by the clouds that were rolling in and I hightailed it back inside before the rain threatened. It was just a matter of time.

I decided to settle on the couch with my book, rather than go back upstairs to my room, but I was interrupted by a knock at the door. There were no words to describe the shock of seeing Jacob on my doorstep.

"What are you doing here? I thought you hated me and wanted me dead." I said walking away but leaving the door open so that he could come through and follow me to the living room. I heard the door close and his massive feet closing the distance behind me as I plopped back on the couch.

"You know I didn't mean it. I was just upset that they were here. Especially because of that Victoria bloodsucker. I'm sorry. Forgive me?" Jacob gave me his dimpled smile that I could never say no to and we instantly fell back into our comfortable friendship phase. Well at least for me it was only a friendship, Jacob seemed to blur the lines of where our relationship was.

"Sure, sure," I said mockingly how Jacob would answer someone back. "How did Sam take the news about Victoria and the Cullen's?"

The look that Jacob had on his face reminded me of someone that was saying, "seriously?" I raised an eyebrow when he finally spoke, "How did you know I said something?"

"Please Jake, you mean to tell me that you didn't say or think anything to Sam in regards to the vampire that wants to kill me or the vampires that stopped by for a visit?"

"I know, I just kind of forgot I told you pretty much everything about the pack." He paused for a moment to clear his throat. "He thinks the Cullen's were extremely careless for allowing anywhere near hostile vampires, let alone know their name and leaving you unprotected from her. And he's not happy at all that they were here, but he was satisfied when their scent disappeared outside of the state borders. It doesn't seem like they planned on staying. So that's one good thing, I just wish they didn't even bother on coming at all." Jacob picked up a pillow that was laid absent-mindly on Charlie's favorite chair and sat down.

"But how are you doing? Did you talk to them after-," Jacob started his sentence but he realized he couldn't finish.

"After you left me?" I was sorry I said the words, they came out so spitefully. Jacob was already wincing with me finishing his sentence. "We talked briefly, but then they left. Just as fast as they showed up." I thought about Edward's last words to me, how his kind can get easily distracted. That was all this concise encounter with them was: just another distraction.

Thinking about in those terms didn't exactly make me feel better about them leaving me, nor did it make me feel better about them in general. I still didn't hate them for it, it was their nature. I guess.

"Well they shouldn't have bothered." Jacob harrumphed, and after I protested that I didn't want to talk about it anymore, Jacob backed off and we just watched TV, and just hung out for a little bit. It would have been a really nice time if my mind wasn't trying to figure out the Cullen's. Once Jacob left, I shook the Cullen's out of my mind and finished watching TV until Charlie came home with his catch of the day.

"Oh CRAP!" I woke up with a start when I realized I overslept. One look at the clock on the small table by bed told me I'd overslept by a lot. Thankfully Charlie had to work early so I wouldn't have to endure any lectures from him, though he might hear about the fact that I didn't stroll into class until third period.

I took the fastest shower in history and threw on a pair of jeans that I had folded on my rocking chair and found a burnt orange cotton shirt and practically ran out the door after brushing my teeth. The truck started with no problems but groaned as I tried to push it beyond its limits to try to minimize my tardiness.

All of the good spots in the parking lot were taken, of course, but I was able to find one in the far left corner of the lot, closest to the football field. Now grabbing my bag, I realized I had an unfortunate dilemma that I needed decide upon quickly: should I run or walk? The odds were always in favor of me falling if I ran so I came to a compromise and walked, very briskly, towards the administrative building.

Mrs. Cope was in the warm but poorly lit office painting her nails when I walked in. "Hello dear. How can I help you?" She managed to pull herself away from the small brush in her hand and look up at me.

"I just need to sign in. I wasn't feeling to good this morning, thought I'd wait it out." I explained and Mrs. Cope went back to painting her nails. I glanced at the clock and sure enough there were ten minutes left of third period and the thought of walking into my History class that late made me nervous since everyone would be looking at me. Best course of action was to hide in the bathroom until the bell rang, I'll just copy Mike's notes for World History, and Angela was in my first two periods, English and Trig.

I got to bored by myself in the bathroom and decided I'd go to the gym and meet up with Angela after her third period class and we could go to Chemistry together. I stood by the lockers and only needed to wait about two minutes before the bell rang and students began filing out into the hallways. Angela caught sight of me and smiled, but she had a sort of strange look about her. Like she was trying to figure something out.

"Hey Ang, I overslept this morning. How was class?" I asked as we made our way through the crowd to get to the science building.

"Class was good. I'll let you copy my notes for them at lunch." She kept opening and closing her mouth like there was more that she wanted to say but wasn't quite sure how to put it.

"Ang, spit it out. You look like you're trying to catch flies or a fish who's gasping out of the water." I tried to say it in a light tone, but I could tell this wasn't easy for her. Whatever this was. She continued to flounder with her thoughts, and I started to think something was really bothering her. "Angela is it the twins? Is something wrong? Did you and Ben break up?" Questions started forming in my mind and with each one that popped up, the scenarios kept getting worse.

"Oh no, it's nothing like that. Everything with me is fine. It's just I was wondering if you were doing okay." Both my eyebrows raised in surprise as I looked at Angela. We now had our seats in our class, and we were setting our books down on the tile.

"Yeah, of course I'm fine. I just overslept. Why?"

Angela's eyes narrowed as she looked at me, her mouth started to open and close again until I stared her down and practically told her with my eyes she better not even think of it. "Well I guess it's better to hear it from me rather than Jess or Lauren. You know they have it in for you. And it'll be loads better than actually running into them I'm sure." Angela rambled on and on, as if she was more debating with herself than actually telling me something. But the second she said the word "them," I knew who she was talking about. She didn't have to say another word.

"The Cullen's are back?" Angela sighed in relief at my question. As if she didn't want to say the words. But I know Angela better than that. She was worried how I was going to receive the news, especially since I took the break-up so hard.

"You already know! Well that's good." She whispered the last part, but I understood her sigh of relief. She hadn't heard the sound deflection in my voice and she must have thought I was making a statement.

"No actually, I didn't. I had an idea though. At least I should have had an idea." My voice was sad when I thought about it further. But Angela was right, it was better than blindly walking into to them, only now I was looking for them. I had no idea if all of them were back or if it was just Alice that was here in school since Jasper had graduated with Emmett and Rose. But I immediately sensed that wasn't right. Angela said them, with worried eyes as she had studied me. That could only mean that somehow they contacted Edward, and he was here too. Considering I was now noticing the stares of everyone in the room, I wondered how many of them knew that Edward was back in school. Who was I kidding, this was a small town. Everyone but me seemed to know.

My confusion of the matter soon turned to hate. I hated Charlie for living in a town that called for constant overcast. I hated Jacob for not patrolling the town a bit longer to warn me. I hated Edward for leaving. Mike for his persistence, and Lauren for hating me no matter what I did. I hated everyone, but just as my temper flared to a boiling point. I couldn't hate them, not even Edward, well maybe Lauren. None of this was their fault. I quickly calmed myself down by counting backwards from twenty-five and took deep breaths to even them out. Since Mr. Banner was passing out a test, I at least didn't have to think about the Cullen's for the next forty minutes.

I tapped my foot against the tall stool anxiously as I took full advantage that this test had to offer. Not once did I think about Edward or his family while the three page test was in my hands. But as soon as the bell rang, signaling the end of the period, my heart sank and I was forced to face the hallways.

Me and Angela split up, she had study hall in the library and I had to go back to the gym for fifth period. I was a nervous wreck while walking outside towards my personal hell. I kept glancing sideways and behind me, I knew they were out there now and I felt like they were watching me. Why would they come back here?

I quickly changed my clothes, and left the locker room. I hated gym, even more so this year because the only friend I could turn to for help with just about everything is Mike Newton. I started our daily routine of waiting for him on the bleachers closest to the boy's locker room.

I rolled my eyes when he gave me the same look that Angela gave me.

"I'm fine, Mike. You don't have to look at me like I'm going catatonic again." I tried keeping it light. It seemed to me to be the better course of action to stay normal. Act normal.

"Oh umm…" Mike struggled to find his words until I reconfirmed that it was okay, and I smiled at the normalcy that we were able to fall back to. The normalcy of which included me smacking Mike and a few other people with the volleyball. Of course once I hit Mr. Greene with the ball, he said I could sit down, which I was perfectly okay with.

There were only a ten minutes before everyone would be sent to change their clothes, so I went and changed before sitting on the bleachers by myself until the bell rang.

I met Mike in the hallway and we headed towards the cafeteria, as it became our ritual. Only today it felt like I was being led to my execution. I knew there was going to be no avoiding the Cullen's once I entered and I could tell that Mike sensed the tension as well. We were walking slower than the crowd that was pressing it's way to the cafeteria.

I sighed a breath of relief when I scanned the large room and I didn't see Alice or Edward, but I didn't want to press my luck. Everyone was already mentioning seeing them in the hallways, so since I was the only one that hadn't seen them yet, only meant that they were probably late to lunch. Me and Mike arrived at our table and I plopped my stuff in my seat so I could join Angela and Ben in line to get our food. I couldn't have been more grateful for Ben for keeping my mind off of my impending doom. Of course it only worked until we got to our table.

I placed my tray on the table and started to lower myself into my seat when I noticed that the Cullen's former table was no longer empty. I could have sworn that my heart skipped about ten beats, or maybe it was doing me a favor and stopping all together.

"Bella!" Angela was calling my name, and from the sounds of it, it wasn't the first time she had said it. I gasped for air that I didn't even know I had held.

Edward got out of his seat, leaving Alice in her chair bouncing happily away, and started walking in my direction. With each step closer, my heart fluttered until I could barely stand. Until finally he was standing directly in front of me and I could feel his cold breath reaching for my face.

"Ed-," I tried to speak but I suddenly felt his lips and tongue crashing down on mine with a force of urgency that I'd never felt before. Edward's arms wrapped securely around mine waist and I relaxed into him. I couldn't believe he was really here, he was back.

I heard Angela's voice calling out to me and for the first time in my life I found her annoying. "Bella!"

I opened my eyes to look at her and she looked just as annoyed with me. I looked back at Edward but he was talking quietly with an angry looking Alice. Realization dawned on me and I hurriedly sat down in my chair, hoping I didn't embarrass myself.

"Where were you just now? You looked like you were tanning on a private beach just now." Angela stifled a small laugh.

"Yeah. I was thinking of Phoenix and how uncomplicated my life was back then." I gave her a weak smile before turning to look at Edward. Both him and Alice had grabbed their trays and were dumping them in the trash. And then they left the cafeteria without even a glance back in my direction. So much for a reunion.


	3. Chapter 3: Explanations

I quickly explained to Angela and Ben what happened, despite the embarrassment I felt. I needed to tell someone what had happened. For a change, luck was on my side since Jessica had kept the rest of the table preoccupied with some story about a pair of shoes she saw at the mall, no one noticed my delusional breakdown except the two people that I trusted the most at this school.

I escaped the cafeteria drool free, and rushed to my Italian class. Mrs. Cope had contacted me over the summer and told me that I didn't have enough foreign languages to graduate. Phoenix had only required two years while Forks wanted three years. I tried arguing that that wasn't fair since I would have started it when I first got to Forks, but she promptly reminded me that I'd started in the middle of the year. I dreaded the idea of learning Spanish again, especially since with taking a year break from it, I forgot just about everything, so I decided learning basic Italian was good enough. I clamored to my seat without tripping and opened my notebook.

Inadvertently, I started doodling even though I had my eyes closed. With everyone whispering about me and the return of the mysterious Cullen's, I could feel a headache forming behind my eyes.

"Sono piuttosto sorpreso che si stanno prendendo italiano di quest'anno." I heard his cool voice say beside my ear.

I opened my eyes and saw everyone trying not to be seen looking at our interaction. I sucked in some air but I didn't make a move to speak to him.

"I said, I'm surprised to see you taking Italian this year." Edward repeated in English.

"I know what you said. I was deciding if I should talk to you." I replied coldly. There were too many emotions that were flowing through me and I didn't want to add to the confusion. By what? If I just talked to him maybe I could get some answers. But there was always a chance that I wouldn't like the answers. Would ignorance be better?

"And have you decided anything?" Edward's brow furloughed together. He seemed nervous about what I would say, but strangely he also seemed amused.

"Why are you here? Why did you come back?" I was getting exasperated with questions, emotions, and Edward's looks were charging at me. I was also upset that the cool and calm demeanor that I had only a few seconds ago had disintegrated when I caught a glimpse of a smile.

"Perhaps we should talk about this later. We seem to be drawing an audience."

"No, Edward. I'm far past your games." I gathered my things and walked towards the door. I was aware that everyone was staring at me but at this point I didn't even care. "You always back off at the wrong moments, and I'm left scrambling after you, trying to make sense of what just happened. I'm over it."

"Oh, Mi scusi Bella. But class has started and if you and Mr. Cullen are done, we can continue." Mrs. Napolitano said expecting me to return to my seat but I kept going through the door. There was no doubt in my mind that I was going to have detention later this week for this, but it honestly felt good to make a dramatic exit without tripping. I couldn't possibly regret something that made me feel good. I fished through my bag and found the keys to my wonderful and somewhat reliable truck, but I was dismayed when I saw a pixie like figure sitting on the hood. My day just would not end.

"Alice." I simply said when I came up from behind her.

"I told him that he should have let me speak to you first, but he didn't want to listen." Alice hopped from my truck and stood directly in front of me. "He never listens," she was practically pouting.

"Why are you here? Most importantly, why is he here? Are you here for more distractions? Or just for some torture. I hear torture is in these days." I wrenched the door from behind Alice, which only let me know that she allowed me to open the door.

"What are you going on about distractions and torture? Would you just let me talk?" I took two deep breaths and closed my eyes.

"Alright. Talk."

"We came back for you, well most of us. Emmett and Rosalie are on another honeymoon. Can you believe they had a Vegas wedding and didn't invite anyone! I mean honestly, the nerve of them." The stern look I gave Alice told her that she needed to focus. "You're right sorry. The ones that are here are for you, full speed ahead. We came to keep you safe from Victoria and those mangy wolves." Alice said wolves with the utmost disdain I'd ever seen anyone manage.

"Yeah well, those mangy wolves are my friends. Ones I might add, have never deserted me just because they're different from me. So if I were you, I'd show some restraint."

"Okay, you're right. You're right. I'm sorry." She gently grabbed my arm and pulled me to her. "Can you give all of us, minus my idiotic brother a chance to explain ourselves? Esme and Carlisle and Jasper would really love to see you. And I miss you so much Bella."

I looked back at the school and then back to Alice. "Alright, get in."

"We can take Edward's car and then he'll drive your truck to the manor." Alice suggested and I knew she was taking a stab at my classic truck.

"In case I need to make a fast getaway, I want to do so in my own vehicle, thank you very much."

"Bella, there is nothing about this truck that suggests it can make a fast getaway. But fine, if you insist." She said while climbing into the cab, and I did insist even though I knew she was right. There was no car that could out drive a vampire's legs and one could probably walk to keep up with the Chevy.

We drove in silence to the manor, I didn't need directions at all, it was as if I'd never truly forgotten how to get there, even in the dense forest that had overgrown the tell-tale signs of the driveway. However, when I pulled up to the manor, it was like the overgrowth knew not to go anywhere near the house. I couldn't believe the shock I'd felt that the house still held a majestic beauty to me.

"Ready?" Alice was bouncing up and down and leading me into the house at the same time. The first person I saw was Jasper, and as soon as I entered the foyer of the house, Alice disappeared, leaving me alone with him.

"Hi Jasper. Umm, how are you?" I stupidly asked, without having any idea what was proper in this type of situation.

"I am in need of your forgiveness, and yours alone. You saw me in my weakest moment and in return caused you a great deal of pain. My actions were inexplicable and I am extremely and truly sorry for what I've done to you." I stood confused for a moment. Because of what happened at my disastrous birthday party, Jasper was still blaming himself. To me, it was a non issue.

"But Jasper, I have no ill-will towards you. I forgave you that night. I knew then that you felt bad for nearly attacking me, and I didn't see any reason to hold it against you. The only thing I have against you is the same I have for everyone else. You all left me."

"Yes, it seems we did leave you in very grave danger." Jasper's southern drawl was mesmerizing and near intoxicating.

"I wasn't talking about the danger. I don't even care about that." I was slightly amused when I'd realized what I had said. Edward always thought I had an ill sense of self preservation and here I was more concerned about the vampire family that left me than the danger of a psychotic vampire that wanted to kill me.

"In that case, we should explain some things before Edward returns home." Carlisle's voice called from practically above me and I saw him and Esme standing at the top of the steps. "Afterall, he stayed in school today." There was some amusement behind his tone.

"Yeah, the idiot almost ruined it for me, I mean us." Alice was sheepish over her slip of the tongue. "I told him if he knew what was good for him he'd stay in class. I told him before she was going to walk out on him. But did he listen? No. I swear that kid has no common sense when it comes to you Bella." I raised my eyebrows at her rant but she continued to shake her head at her brother that wasn't here.

"First off, on behalf of my family, I'd like to apologize on the abrupt departure. Many of the members of this family have uprooted Edward for mistakes we've made, which he reminded us that he did so willingly. And we felt obligated to move because of his insistence, despite all of our objections. It wasn't until after we were settled in New York that he even opened up about how he left things with you." Carlisle had a mouthful for a 'first off.'

"Bella, I'm so sorry. Our son never could think clearly when it came to you and we had no idea he said those awful things to you!" Poor Esme looked as if she was going to cry so I went to her and comforted her with a hug.

"What about Rosalie and Emmett?" I don't even know why I asked. I knew the answer before I even asked the question. Emmett was probably sad because he liked having me around for entertainment, but Rose hated me, she was probably glad that I was out of their lives.

Carlisle answered for everyone in the room again. "Rosalie was glad, but only for the fact that she agreed with Edward, that you would be safer if you remained ignorant of our world. But once she saw how our departure affected the rest of us, she even came around. That's the real reason for her and Emmett's trip. Rose wanted some time to herself to access how she feels. Emmett is with her for support of course."

"So are we good? Can we be friends again? Cause you have no idea how much I've missed you all this time!" Alice was bouncing up and down and even with the months that we spent apart I knew she saw us as friends again. Even if I had reservations, there was no sense in delaying the inevitable. But I didn't have any reservations.

"We're good," I said with a smile and she immediately pulled me into a tight gripped hug. "Aggh, he always manages to spoil my fun." When I looked at her puzzled, Alice explained further. "Edward is barreling down the highway, he'll be here in three minutes."

"You can hear that far down the highway?" I suddenly got worried. There was still so much I wanted to know, but I didn't want Edward to know.

"No, I just had a vision. But if you were listening for it, you'd be able to hear his car." Alice and Jasper crooked their heads in the general direction of the one-oh-one as if listening to Edward's engine. I looked at her as if she really expected me to be able to hear what she heard.

"Alice do you see me and Edward back together? I'm so confused as to what I should do about him, and I could use a little help." I implored of her before I ran out of the house in a panic.

"I do, but you should make him squirm a little bit. He loves you very much and what he did to you was really wrong. On so many levels. I'll help you out, there are some things that my dear brother needs to learn about the opposite sex, and it'll be good to remind him." She ushered me into my truck and I started the ignition. "Bella, when you see him in the driveway don't look at him. Just keep staring straight ahead and look like you're mad."

"But Alice, I'm not mad. I couldn't pull it off. You guys always said I was a terrible actress." I protested. Alice was practically hanging on the door to my truck as it kept swinging open.

"Yes you are because I'll be at your house in twenty minutes to do some shopping. We have a total of four hours until the mall closes, and that's not nearly enough time to get everything you're gonna need.

Alice slammed my door and ran back in the house, leaving me staring after dumbfounded. She wanted me mad, and she definitely accomplished that.

I turned the truck and headed down the long and windy driveway, and like Alice said to, I stared at the road ahead of me and scowled at the thought of shopping with Alice. I ended up holding my breath because I couldn't believe what was in front of me.

When Alice said I'd be passing Edward on the long driveway, I assumed he'd be driving his car and I'd be in mine. We were supposed to be in cars! What I did not expect was Edward waiting for me at the turnoff outside of his car with a bouquet of flowers. Even from a distance I could see the colors and I knew that they came from the meadow. Our meadow.

It was an unfair move on his part because he knew at the corner, I'd have to come to a complete stop or risk going off of the road. I wasn't confident enough to take on the turn at any miles per hour without stopping, so I eased the brakes into action and stopped. Edward looked into my eyes, pleading and I started to take my left hand off of the steering wheel to open the window, when I felt my phone vibrating.

"Keep Going!" The text message from Alice said and so I went back to my task of heading home. Even though every second my foot was on the accelerator brought me closer to a shopping experience that I'd rather forget.

As soon as I walked through the front door, I knew something was up with Charlie, he was cooking.

"Dad, what's burning?"

Charlie was standing over the counter with an onion in hand and a paring knife in the other. My eyes quickly shifted to the microwave where sparks were flying. I had no idea what the microwave contained, but I knew it didn't deserve the treatment that Charlie was putting it through.

"Ow! Jeez, dad. You can't put an aluminum can in the microwave!" I said as I opened the door. In the center of a bowl, there was a can of chili that looked like it was about to topple over in the microwave. I grabbed an oven mitt and emptied the contents of the can into the bowl and restarted the microwave.

"Oh. I'm making hotdogs and I figured some chili would do nicely." I smiled at his face since he was crying from the fumes from the onion. How did my father ever survive in the kitchen before I came?

"Well, you're using the wrong knife." I took the knife from him, threw it in the sink and then retrieved a better knife to use to chop up the onion. "So to what do I owe the pleasure for you _attempting_ dinner?" I shook my head as Charlie laughed at my comment.

"Well, I thought we should talk, seeing as you had such a bad day." Charlie's eyes narrowed as he looked at me from his side.

"What are you talking about? My day was fine."

"Well, I figured since you left school pretty early without permission, I might add, that I know you had a pretty bad day. A bad day that resulted in the return of the Cullen's?"

I blew out a lot of air in a sigh, "You heard. I really hate small towns. Everyone talks too much." I grumbled as I sat down at the table.

"You want to tell me about it?" Charlie further pushed the issue, glaring at me as he sat down.

"Not really. But I guess it'll be a relief to tell someone now that all of this is over." I looked at Charlie and before my brain could catch up, I was already speaking again. "Emmett witnessed a murder several years ago, and the Cullen's were placed in protective custody. Cullen isn't their real name, it's Mason. Anyway, when they left, they really needed to be relocated for the trial. But now that the trial has ended, Dr. Cullen managed to convince the marshalls that they were okay in Forks, and they'd like to remain here. So here they are." I had no idea if anything I said was possible but there was no stopping my mouth once it got going.

"Uhhh huhh. What was the case?" Charlie wasn't convinced at all. Cripes.

"They couldn't tell me. Or at least wouldn't, they said it was for my own safety. That's also why there couldn't be any communication. It was pretty dangerous."

"And they told you this today?"

"No. Edward swore me to secrecy and told me just before they left." I was proud that I wasn't biting my lower lip which probably would have been a dead giveaway for Charlie that I was lying. I just had to keep reminding myself of that.

"And how does that constitute your behavior when you walked out of class? I heard you were yelling at Edward."

"Okay, Charlie, if you're going to listen to small town gossip, you should learn to realize when the story was being embellished. I left because I was having an emergency, and I was hardly yelling at Edward. I love him, I wouldn't yell at him the first time I saw him." Which was only partly true. The first time I saw him, I stayed silent and drooled at the idea of the two of us together again.

"What kind of emergency? Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"Dad, it's not the kind of emergency that you could help me out with. Unless you were running out to the store to buy me tampons." I knew Charlie was like any other dad in the universe and would cringe about his daughter having a period.

"Okay, okay. That's enough. How about we eat before the hotdogs get cold ehh?" I scarfed down a hot dog quickly before giving Charlie an excuse about my homework and going to bed early.

That's one of the things I like about Charlie, he's okay with what he wants to hear, and doesn't press any further. Of course, I'd have to remember to tell the Cullen's about their stint in the witness relocation program now.

"Taken care of." The text message from Alice said. I sat down with s simple relief and sighed as I shrugged out of my shoes and socks. I willed myself into action and decided to take a shower to calm my nerves before starting my homework. It was only a quick shower, but I felt so much more relaxed by the time I got dressed in my sweats.

Crossing the hall from the bathroom back to my bedroom, I could hear whatever game Charlie was watching and I hurried because the floorboards were cold on my bare feet.

Without looking, I threw my clothes in the hamper and turned on the light so I could fish out my books. As soon as the light switch went 'click,' my heart was in my throat.

"You know, Jasper is not as experienced in hiding his thoughts from me as Alice is. Which is quite surprising since she is his husband afterall." Edward's velvet voice was smooth and practically music to my ears. I took several deep breaths to ease my voice since I knew it was going to be high in pitch. I'd probably end up taking another shower.

"What are you talking about? Why are you here?" I asked and I was surprised that my voice was even when I spoke. I hoped the confidence that my voice exuded would flow through the rest of my body as I plopped on my bed and settled with my math homework. I internally groaned at my least favorite subject but anything was better than focusing on Edward's face.

"I'm talking about the part where you and Alice came up with the idea that I should suffer and learn a lesson for leaving you. I can assure you, I have learned that lesson."

"Well, Alice came up with that plan. Not me, I wanted nothing to do with it. You know how Alice is." I opened my notebook, refusing to even look at him.

"So explain why you stormed out of class today?"

"Explain why you didn't answer my second question." I replied back just as quick.

"Why am I here?" I could see from the corner of my eye that Edward was smiling his crooked smile. "I'm here for an explanation of your behavior today."

"Well I am fresh out of explanations considering you left me first."

"Bella, are we really going to play this question in a circle game?" Edward's expression changed, the smile was now gone and he now looked pained since he was pinching his nose together.

"Yes, as long as you're being unreasonable and cocky. Edward, I walked out of class today, you walked out of my life. In what world could you even imagine that I owe you an explanation of anything?" I was grinding my teeth and I could feel the muscles in my jaw flexing with each heartbeat. My eyes stared at him as he seemed to be struggling inwardly with something, for several seconds. I was about to write him off by shaking my head when he finally spoke.

"You're right. I do owe you an explanation."

**A/N: Sorry I'm a couple of days late with this update guys, I hope you enjoy it! Good news, I think I've found a beta, which I'm really excited for. Hopefully everything will be up and running for the next update! Don't forget to read and review guys 3. **


	4. Chapter 4: Fault Game

**A/N: Everyone please join me in welcoming and thanking my new beta StarChild23! I'm really excited to be working with her to better the story and myself as a writer. So I hope you enjoy this latest installment! And don't forget to review!  
**

Edward went into this long story of how he thought he was protecting me by leaving. I scoffed at him when he called me stupid for finding a pack of werewolves to become my friends.

"I thought you were asking me for forgiveness. Calling me stupid isn't exactly winning you any favor."

"Bella, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to call you stupid. It is not my intention, it's just I don't understand how one person can stumble across two supernatural beings that shouldn't exist."

"It doesn't matter if you can understand it or not. It happened and you and your family need to deal with it. Anything and everything that happened, that I chose, while you were gone, you don't have the right to comment or criticize, and I don't want to hear it. And furthermore, Jacob and his pack are as much a family to each other as your family and you are. So don't extend an apology unless you absolutely, resolutely accept _all_ of the consequences of you leaving me." I couldn't help narrowing my eyes at Edward who only stared at me blankly. That was something else I suppose he would have to learn to deal with. I wasn't the same 'Bella' that he left all those months ago.

"If that is the only way you will forgive me of my transgressions, then yes. I apologize." Edward's golden eyes looked down on me as he swiftly moved closer to me. His cool hand cupped my face and I couldn't help but lean into it. I closed my eyes at the ecstasy of his touch remembering how everything used to be.

"Edward. I'm sorry, my forgiveness is yours, but I am not."

"But Bella, -."

I held out my hand to hush him. "Edward, listen to me. I've kept your secret as best as I could. Even when it caused me great pain, physically and emotionally. I had no one to talk to because there was no one that could understand. And I've had all this time to sort most of it out, on my own." I felt myself closing my eyes again as I continued, "But you being here, I mean physically here, not some apparition that only I can see and hear, is messing with me. I need the time that you were so desperate for me to have."

I opened my eyes to see what I hoped wasn't pain, but Edward was gone. I listened for the door but I didn't hear Charlie coming up the steps. I creaked it open but I didn't find Charlie at the door like I have come to expect. Edward really left, again. I knew it was what I wanted, at least for the moment, but that was just rude. At least the last time he said goodbye, and that was when he broke my heart.

T~T

I barely registered my father's warning as I rushed out the door this morning, "Try not to walk out of class again honey!" He yelled after me as I shut the front door. I stuffed the key in the ignition of my truck and practically slammed my head into the steering wheel when it would not turn over.

"Are you kidding me?"

I looked up at the front door just as my dad was about to come out to take a look at it, and decided I should just gather my things and catch a ride with him. But when I got out of my car, Charlie stood frozen at the door, looking past me. I turned around to see what caught his attention, and focused on a silver Volvo at the end of the driveway.

I grunted as I walked to the passenger side of the Volvo and slid into the seat that was already warm for me. I put my seatbelt on and Edward started driving. "I was in the area and I was hoping that you would talk with me this morning." Edward tried to assure me but I could hear the hint of amusement in his voice.

"Yeah well thanks for understanding my need for time," I mumbled. I looked down at my hands and began fidgeting with them.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked, still amused.

"It means, I know you did something to my car. You're never just 'in the area' unless it's for me." I stared into his eyes even though he should have been concentrating on the road. "So what's missing from the truck?"

"What makes you think something is missing?" Edward asked insolently, and I continued my stare-down with him. He only broke the hold a few times to glance at the road before holding my gaze once again before he finally reached into his coat pocket and pulled out some metal thing that I could only assume belonged in my truck somewhere.

"I don't do Car & Driver, I have no idea what this is."

"It's your alternator. I'll replace it after school, I just wanted more time to speak with you." I felt my heart skip a few beats as I looked into his deeply golden eyes. I also scowled knowing that he could hear the same thing that I felt.

"I said I needed more time."

"But that's what I don't get!" He said as he turned his eyes back to the road. We were only a few seconds out from the school since he was purposely driving slow to prolong the moments he could share with me. "I've been away for how many months now and all this time, I wanted to be with you. And I know you feel the same way, I can see it in your eyes. I'm telling you, begging you, I want to be with you. And I need your forgiveness. How much time could you possibly need to decide if you want to be with me when I know you do?" Edward parked the car a few spots from where I saw Tyler parked, who unsubtly pointed me and Edward out to Jessica and the others.

My eyes closed as I felt myself stop breathing entirely, but his one touch that traced my jawbone revived me. In a near whisper I cried out, "It's not that I don't know if I want to be with you. You're right, I do. My heart died when you left and it's having a hard time believing that it won't ever feel that way again. Only you can cause it that amount of pain, and I'm not sure it's worth it."

I grabbed my books and bag and let myself out of his car. Walking as fast as I could without tripping to the building. I could hear running footsteps behind me and I knew it was Edward. I was only glad that he was allowing me to hear his footfalls so I wasn't completely startled when he caught up to me.

"I would never leave you again. You are every part of me, and it hurt me too much to leave you. I was about to abandon everything just to come back for you."

"I highly doubt you were hurting. You had your distractions after all." I retorted cynically to him.

"Distractions? Bella the only distraction that kept me going, was knowing that I was tracking Victoria and I wanted to kill her in order to keep you safe. If I didn't have that going for me, I would have shut down completely and gone to the Volturi." His words were already hushed so that the gossiping eyes and ears were only able to imagine what we were talking about. But it was definitely harder to hear what he was saying.

"That's what Alice said before. But I didn't entirely believe her." I thought back to the brief moment in the kitchen when it was just Esme, Alice and Jasper I had to deal with. "You were really trying to track her? I didn't know you were a tracker too." I remembered my brief encounter with James, Edward and his family had made it seem as though tracking was a special ability.

"I was but I failed miserably, as I'm sure you noticed. I wasn't even on the same continent as her and she was here terrorizing you. Bella, you can never know how sorry I am that I failed you in so many ways." I could see the sincerity in his eyes, and there wasn't a doubt in my mind that he was telling me the truth. It was in that moment that I wanted to kiss him.

My head tilted forward towards him, my lips were slightly parted. I could see him close his eyes with anticipation but I knew I wanted this more than he did.

"Bella! Guess what? I got my schedule changed so it matches yours." Alice popped up beside us, a knowing and devious smile spread across her face.

"Mrs. Copes wouldn't do it for me, how is it possible that she did it for you?" Edward asked in complete disgust for his sister. I almost laughed at the expression on his face since it was so obvious he was cursing out the annoying pixie by our side.

"Well, today she found me simply more adorable than you, big brother, and she did it for me." Alice tried poking him in the face with her finger and I was in awe at how normally human they could seem when they interacted with each other. Aside from them being gorgeous, from afar, you wouldn't be able to tell that they were anything other than human. Of course, I was in the know.

Alice then quickly dragged me into the building and practically rushed me through the hallway. "I know what you were about to do, and you're going completely off grid." Alice flashed a side glare in my direction and for a moment I was scared of my best friend.

"I thought you wanted me and Edward back together?"

"Not on his terms! He has to learn a lesson, and he hasn't learned it yet." Alice started rambling incoherently about the wrongs that Edward committed, but I knew first hand of the consequences, and so did he. Why was there a need to learn any more lessons.

"Alice, with all due respect, I love you but stop it. I'm not working this misguided plan of yours to torture Edward and dangle my love and forgiveness in front of his face. He is my boyfriend and I am his girlfriend; there is nothing that is ever going to change that." I barely even whispered, knowing she was the only one in the classroom that would be able to hear it.

"Okay. Good, now that's settled. Are we going shopping today after school?" Alice smiled and chirped her normal usual self, while I sat there staring at her as if she was bipolar. She practically gave me the death glare when I thought of being back with Edward, and now one minute later, everything was great that I claimed him.

"How about we don't and we say we did?"

"Oh, please Bella? Rose hasn't gotten back yet and I really want to go shopping with you." Alice was begging in the chair next to me and it was slightly amusing at how pathetic she looked.

"No, but I'll tell you what, how about I'll let you buy whatever you want to buy me, and I won't complain?" I looked at her hoping and praying that she took the deal. She was at least thinking about it. I stuck my hand out in order to let her know I was truly okay with this arrangement.

She finally came around and shook my hand. "And you promise you won't complain?"

"I promise." I said blindly, only remembering that it was dangerous to promise something so open-endedly to a vampire. "Wait, Alice-."

"Nope, you promised and agreed to the terms specified, and I will do my best to stick to those terms. I expect you should too." I saw a flash of something fierce in Alice's eyes, and I knew I was in trouble. I could only imagine what ridiculous outfits Alice was going to purchase me.

I made a mental note to call Angela when I got home from school, since she was absent today. It was completely not like her to be out from school, so I wanted to check up on her.

The rest of the day was uneventful as usual, and no one seemed surprised that I was back with Edward. Even Mike Newton seemed cool with our lunch table arrangement. He still stayed in the neutral zone along with Tyler and Eric, leaving room for the Cullens, myself, and Ben. Ben was absorbed in his comic book, only poking into the conversation when something shocked him back to reality.

Edward replaced the alternator in my car and kissed me goodbye. I could see he needed to hunt, and we didn't want to push Charlie over the edge with him being in the house before Charlie got home. It was best to let Charlie warm up to the idea that Edward was a permanent fixture in my life.

I ran upstairs, changed into some sweats, and called my dad's office to see if he could pick up a pizza. I wasn't in the mood to cook and I wanted to get a head start on my paper. As soon as I hung up with him, the phone rang.

"Bella, it's Angela."

"Ang! How are you feeling? I was worried that you weren't in school today."

"You were? I'm fine. I'm not sick or anything. I just thought I'd stay home cause I figured you'd be spending the day with Edward and Alice, and I didn't think you'd have time for me. I just didn't want to make your first day back with them uncomfortable."

"Ang, what are you talking about? I wouldn't have been uncomfortable with you there, don't be silly. I know I wasn't the greatest friend in the world the first time around while I was with Edward, but when the Cullens left, I got over that real quick. I'm not going to abandon my friends ever again. Especially for a boy." I felt awful that Angela even thought I'd ignore her, but I also knew that I didn't give her much faith to go on from the first time.

"Yeah but it's understandable when 'the boy' is Edward Cullen!" We both enjoyed a good laugh and made comments about how dating Edward was something Lauren, nor Jessica, had ever achieved and that was their main resentment towards me.

I gave her the homework assignments for the two classes we had together and caught her up on the little things that happened at school today. Once we hung up, I was glad to have spoken with Angela candidly about so many things. Everything that she told me was sort of an eye-opener of what I had done wrong while dating Edward and I was never going to abandon my friends for Edward Cullen again.

By the time Charlie came home with dinner I'd had two pages of my report done and was more than ready for a break. I grabbed a slice of cheese pizza and dug in. Charlie was about to go into his third slice when the doorbell rang and he went to go answer it.

"Oh hello Dr. Cullen. Alice. How is everything?" I heard Charlie say, and left my pizza crust on my plate to go stand behind him. Sure enough, Carlisle and Alice were on my porch, Alice with a huge grin on her face.

"Chief Swan, I hope you can forgive our intrusion at such a late hour." I stifled a laugh at Carlisle's formal greeting, especially since it wasn't even eight o'clock yet.

"Awww, it's alright. I was just about to turn on the basketball game. We have some pizza in the kitchen if you'd like to join us. Oh for Pete's sake, where are my manners? Come in."

"Oh no, thank you. My daughter and I only stopped by because there was a matter that I wanted to discuss with you and Bella." Carlisle confessed.

"Oh is this about the witness protection program that you had to endure? Bella told me about that, but I haven't said anything to anyone. I promise. I know how these law enforcement procedures work, you know." I looked at Charlie confused at why he seemed so nervous around Carlisle. He's never spoken this much to me before, and I'm his daughter.

"I appreciate that, but no, it's not that. You see, Alice here has a problem, well, more like an addiction to playing those sweepstakes and contests. She's won a few times, and I swear that if I wasn't a doctor, we might be able to live off of her winnings alone. But before I digress too much, her latest win was a new car filled with clothes." There was too much amusement on Carlisle's face and I instantly hated him for the moment. It was a temporary hate, even I knew that, but it sustained me nonetheless.

"But unfortunately, the clothes don't fit and I already have a car. So I'm giving everything to you." Alice said, jumping up and down with excitement.

My eyebrow raised, my jaw hit on the floor, and if I had been holding anything fragile, I would have dropped it. I knew I had to keep from complaining because if I said anything of the sort, Alice probably would have made sure I went with her on her next shopping excursion. I've learned my lesson on this.

"Are you sure that you want to give up the car though?" I looked around Alice and saw a blue Volvo sitting in the driveway. It was extremely pretty, I had to admit.

"Everyone in the family has their forms of transportation, and having yet another car in the family would be overkill. You wouldn't need to worry about taxes or anything of the sort. Everything is paid for. We'd just sign the title over to you Bella."

"Of course it is," I mumbled.

"What was that sweetheart?" Charlie looked back to me.

"I didn't say anything." I scowled at Carlisle and Alice, who only smiled in my direction. Which in turn only made me temporarily hate them more.

"Well, yeah. Bella's truck wouldn't start this morning for school, so maybe it is time to get a more reliable car. I tell you Dr., I was about to take her to school myself but then I saw Edward in the driveway with her. Your son is a good boy, that Edward." I rolled my eyes at Charlie's praise of the Cullens. I loved them all, but as of right now they were the enemy; joined together to get rid of my beautiful rusty monster truck, and Alice was the general. Though I couldn't believe that Esme had anything to do with this so I refused to temporarily hate her. It was the other ones I had to look out for, and two of them were on my porch.

"And it's a convertible! I will help you get the clothes to your room." Alice exclaimed.

"Bella, where are your manners?"

"Thank you Dr. Cullen and Alice. I truly appreciate it, and there is no way I could ever complain about your generosity." I plastered a fake smile and fought the urge to let Alice know that I was going to seek out revenge.

"You're welcome, Bella." Alice said as she brushed past me with several bags in her hand. I knew I was going to regret this. I ran to my new car, grabbed some more bags, and went upstairs to my room where Alice was moving the old clothes in my closet out, so there was room for the new stuff she bought me.

"A car, Alice? I meant clothes. You know I meant clothes."

"Yes, but you said anything and I complied. And don't complain."

"I wasn't complaining. Just wanted an explanation, is all."

"Okay, well, explanations are cool I guess." Charlie came up with Carlisle trailing behind him with what I hoped were the last of the bags. "It has a navigation system, a premium sound system, keyless drive and Edward added the remote start for you too. I got all of the options available and when Rose gets back she can add some more horsepower for you."

"No, I'll be fine with the horsepower that is available. Thank you for the offer though."

"Okay, I'm gonna go now. Enjoy. You should pick me up for school tomorrow."

Alice gave me a hug and I felt my resolve melt as she danced her way out of my room. She didn't mean any harm by her gesture, and even I couldn't deny that I was the one that put this whole thing in motion. I should have known by her devious smile earlier that she wasn't going to stick to just clothes.

It was my own fault, really.


	5. Chapter 5: Visitation Rights

"Look at the arrogance! We need to end this now! How can he presume to make all of these vampires and let them expose our kind?" Felix growled beside me. I was just as irate as he was but I saw opportunity.

"Yes. I agree with you. But Aro wants us to watch first. We must know what we are dealing with before we conduct judgment." The scent of the blood being spilled in the streets of Seattle was delicious and was making me thirsty. As much as I loved the plush life of the castle, including my food being brought in fresh, there was nothing like hunting your own food down. And the blood in the open air only made me want to join in on the hunt that we were watching below.

"Others will begin to question the purpose of the Volturi if we continue to let this happen. We must act now." I turned to face Felix since he had walked away from our perch.

I'd heard enough. I sent a jolt of pain in Felix's brain and heard his bones crack as he bent over in agony. "To question my motives, is to question Aro. Aro says wait, we wait." I took a deep breath and slowly let it out as I also released Felix from the grip of my gift. "If you wish, I can have you replaced from this mission if you disagree with my methods."

"No, Jane. I do not disagree with your methods. We'll wait."

"I don't think we'll have to wait much longer. He's running away and leaving the newborns. What should we do?" Demetri's voice called out to me, and I turned back to the ledge that we were watching from.

"Do you have the newborns signature?" I waited for Demetri to confirm with a nod of his head. "Then we follow the leader. These newborns were created with a purpose in mind and I intend to find out what it is. We'll deal with them when we know more." I looked back at Felix who only nodded his consignment to me.

We allowed Demetri to lead the way and the city lights soon turned to rustic trees. We ran with our hoods up until we came across a cabin in the middle of a clearing. I looked at Demetri as he indicated with his head that he was in the cabin.

"_My sweet Riley, you know I won't be able to follow you there. Those Cullen's have a mind reader and will know my secrets the second they spot me. They will know that I want to reclaim this area for you and me. You are more than ready to lead our army to victory. Only then can we finally be together without my irrational fear hanging over us." _A female voice called out to the one we followed named Riley.

"_But Victoria, why would the Cullen's care about what we do here?" _said Riley's voice sounding unsure.

"_Because they think they can rule over all vampires and claim this area just because they were here first. Well, I say not anymore. We should be able to stay where we want, right?" _This Victoria implored.

"_I hear what you're saying. Maybe it was them that I felt in the area before." _I looked at Felix with a moment of fury behind my eyes. If Felix's rant alerted Riley of our presence, I was going to kill him myself. I wanted to know more about this army. I was disappointed in the two vampires that were so caught up in their affairs that they didn't hear us right outside their door.

"_I don't know baby, but something is coming, and wouldn't it be better if we caught the Cullen's off guard?"_

"Oh something is coming alright." I stepped through the threshold of the cabin, Felix and Demetri flanked my sides. "But it definitely isn't the Cullen's." I lowered my head and my hood so that the two vampires I was staring at could get a full look of me.

"Who the hell are you?" Riley screamed as he tried to charge at me. My lips curled into a slight smile as I instantly collapsed him with pain.

"Challenging me is something you should never do. You will learn to respect that if you wish to live."

I stepped over him; never taking my eyes off of the one he called Victoria. I released him from his pain as he lay there, whimpering with aftershocks.

"You created an army to attack the Cullen's? To the Volturi's knowledge, they eat animals and want nothing to do with the natural order of our life." I asked in earnest.

"They terrorized me and my friends. I wanted a little payback." My eyebrow rose at her lie. I'd never met the entire family; however I remember hearing stories from Aro about the gold eyed vampire, Carlisle Cullen. Terrorizing was that last thing that he would tolerate; at least according to what I know from Aro.

"Pain," I said simply as she fell to her knees, trying not to scream out in anguish. I lifted her chin and lolled my head around to look at her sweetly. As Aro said I was a living doll that turned everything into a nightmare because of my love for torture. "Now, Victoria, you can tell me the truth, or I can hold you like this indefinitely. It's your choice really."

I took the pain away as I watched her contemplate the offer I gave her. She looked at me and then to Riley's eyes with a look of panic that only made me thirsty again for torture. I gave her a quick jolt to remind her who she was dealing with.

"They killed my mate for a human. A human who knows what they are. I was simply avenging my mate and taking care of their rule breaking in one fell swoop." she pushed the words through her teeth, snarling.

"Hmm, a human. Most interesting. But I'm afraid you broke a great rule. Your plan was misguided in allowing your army to roam Seattle with no guidance or rules. They cause chaos in the streets as we speak. You didn't even teach them to fear the Volturi!" I looked back at Riley who was now on his knees, his head in Felix's palms. "This is inexcusable."

I nodded once to Demetri who stepped forward and ripped off Victoria's head, separating it from her flawless body. Riley watched in horror as his beloved's body fell headless to the ground.

"She lied to you." I said sweetly as I went to stand in front of him. "I can see it in your eyes. If she had obeyed the rules that have been laid out for eons of time, this outcome never would have happened. She was foolish to think she could defy the Volturi and get away with it. I wouldn't waste my energy in mourning her."

"Who are the Volturi?"

"I could tell you, but-" I started but was interrupted by Riley.

"But you'd have to kill me. I get it."

His poor innocence made me burst out laughing harder than I had in centuries. "I don't think you do dear Riley. I was going to kill you anyway."

At that moment I plunged my hand into his chest, and pulled out his dead heart. "I always wondered what our dead hearts looked like." Riley looked at the gaping hole in his chest to the withered organ as I dropped it before him. I let out a huge sigh out of extreme boredom. "We can go now."

Demetri twisted Riley's head around until it cracked off in his hands. "I take it we're going to Forks?"

"No, first we deal with the newborn army and then we talk with Aro."

-OO-

"Bella, I can't believe you forgot that graduation is just two weeks away!" Angela shrilled in excitement. We were in the parking lot by my car waiting for Edward and Ben to get out of class. For whatever reason, Alice didn't show up for school. "You've been kind of preoccupied for the last few months actually. Is everything ok?" I smiled at Angela's concern for me.

Since the Cullen's return to Forks, I was able to develop the perfect balance between Edward and his family, my friends at school, and the reservation. Jacob was still not talking to me because I chose to go back to Edward, but I was still on good terms with his pack mates. I was extremely glad that Angela and Ben would even come with me sometimes to visit the Cullen's at their home.

"Yeah everything is fine. I just kind of blocked graduation out, I guess." Angela gave me a death glare as she leaned against the hood of my car.

"How could you possibly forget about graduation? It's got to be one of the single most important days of a teenager's life."

To be honest I blocked out graduation because I was trying to hide how scared I was. I couldn't let Edward know that I was the tiniest bit nervous that he was going to turn me into a vampire. Of course, I was really nervous because he was only going to turn me if we were married first.

Edward was now walking out of the building, scanning the parking lot for me.

"Can you keep a secret?" We both knew she could, but she nodded anyway. "I think Edward is planning on asking me to marry him after graduation." It was close to the truth, and was only after some stupid negotiating on my part that got me engaged in the first place. All because I wanted to have sex as a human, Edward twisted it around so that I would marry him first. Somehow my carefully planned negotiations benefitted him more in the end.

"Oh my gosh, seriously? Why aren't you excited? You should be excited!" Angela was practically jumping up and down like Alice. The only difference was Angela knew how to bounce without drawing too much attention. I think she's been hanging around the Cullen's too long.

"We're only eighteen. People are going to think that I got knocked up, which could never happen because we've never had sex." I explained, hissing the last part.

"Well I think that's sweet. Kids hardly ever wait till they're freshman in high school before having sex, let alone marriage. And just think, the sooner you two get married, the quicker you get to spend the rest of your life with your best friend." Angela smiled off into dreamy land and saw Edward walking towards us. I couldn't help but smile at her. There was nothing spoken more truly; Edward was my best friend and I'd have an eternity to be with him.

"Besides, whether you get married at eighteen or at twenty-eight, people are going to talk. So why worry about what they're going to say?" She said absently as Edward came up to us.

"Hey, Ang. Ben said he'll be out in a minute, he had to run back to his locker and get his comic book." Angela rolled her eyes as she pushed herself from my car.

"Oh, alright, I'll see you two on Monday. Have a good weekend!" She called as she made her way back towards the school.

Something was definitely up with Edward, he wouldn't look at me and his body was tense. "What's wrong?"

"Follow us to the manor." Edward was still not looking at me. Panic was making my heart beat faster than normal and Edward didn't even show signs that he noticed.

"Us?"

Just then, Rosalie pulled up in her cherry red BMW and Edward got in the car without another word before Rose drove off. I ran to the driver side of my car and started the engine. I didn't actually need to follow them, but with the fear that this was going to be the last time I saw my family again, I pushed the accelerator faster than I'd ever driven before.

Rose allowed me to catch up to her when we got closer to the long, curving driveway that led to the house. And the closer we got, the more my heart and stomach started doing flip-flops with anxiety.

"Will someone tell me what's wrong?" I asked when I got out of the car.

"Hello Bella." Rose offered a smile that had a taint of sympathy around it. I was glad that Rosalie had finally warmed up to me.

"Bella, Rose is going to stay here with you. I'll be at the baseball clearing with the others." Edward finally looked at me.

"No. One of you will tell me what's going on. Why is Rose babysitting me, and why are we being separated? What's going on at the clearing?"

There seemed to be a one-way mental battle between Edward and Rose; with Rose challenging Edward to tell me something that it was clear he was trying to keep from me.

Edward finally let out a sigh and looked back at me. "It seems we have visitors."

**A/N: I hope you guys enjoy! My beta StarChild23 is amazing, so let's have a round of applause for her! Don't forget your reviews!**


	6. Chapter 6:Surprise, Surprise

**A/N: That was absolutely cruel of me to leave everyone hanging for a month and I apologize for the delay. I got sick for almost two weeks, my nephew had his one year bday and on top of that my sister had false contractions. Don't you just hate it when the baby fakes you out? I also entered a writing contest where I had a whole month to come up with a novel of 50,000 words, and time for fanfiction simply slipped away from me. Anyways, I'm back, and hopefully here to stay, that is if you'll take me back? :) I hope I didn't lose any of ya'll with my absence. For those of you who do come back, please accept my apologies. You can tell me how much you hate me but LOVE my story when you review. Hahaha**

**Jshai**

"Visitors? No, I'm going with you," I began arguing.

"No Bella. Don't you remember the last time we had visitors? One of them tried to kill you right there on the spot. And he almost succeeded when you slipped away from Alice and Jasper in Phoenix! I will protect you better this time." Edward's pained voice cut through me.

"Edward, whatever it is we'll face it together. I can't stand not knowing whether or not you're safe. We were separated once and it just about killed me. You can't make decisions for me anymore. You promised."

"Well I'm breaking that promise. I have to keep you safe at all costs."

"Even at the cost of my heart, Edward? What if something happened to you? Would you really expect me to go on? I'll jump off of a cliff before I moved on without you. I know you heard me talking to Angela earlier, and you could see that I've warmed up to the idea of getting married so soon because of that talk. We do this together." I stomped my foot and I tried not to smile as I caught Rose stifle her own laughter at my tantrum.

"Now how do you know we're having visitors?" I asked, stressing the

"Alice had a vision. It looks like three vampires are coming, but they're not sure of where they're headed. All Alice could gleam was that they were looking for us. We're going to head them off at the clearing," Rosalie interjected.

"Why thank you Rose. I'm glad you were able to apprise me of the situation." My eyes narrowed as I walked closer to Edward. "Now I know I'm not your equal when in regard to species-wise. But if you really want to make this work, you have to start treating me as your equal here." I placed my palm over his heart and looked into his eyes. "Keep me informed when something involves all of us, and let me help make a decision on what's best for me." Edward nodded his head and closed his eyes to acknowledge his agreement.

"I don't know why I never liked her in the first place. Bella, I love that you seem to be the only one to talk some sense in him. I wonder dear brother who told you the same thing." Rose said smugly as she picked me up and collected me into her arms.

She started running before he could answer, and I had to immediately shut my eyes tight when I felt the air rustling my hair in fiery waves. I could barely feel her legs moving beneath me and I couldn't help but nuzzle into her neck when she picked up speed. When she stopped and placed my feet back on the ground, I had to steady myself before letting go of her arm. I smiled when Rose seemed to realize that, and she held me by the waist to lead me closer to where the others were standing.

"Bella, I'm so pleased that you made it." Esme said in her motherly tone. I walked over to her and she pulled me into a hug. Edward became visible from the woods and stood close to Carlisle in a conversation that I couldn't hear.

"Edward finally came to his senses I see." Emmett ruffled the top of my hair. I remembered the run with Rosalie and immediately set out to make sure that my hair was smoothed out.

"Actually, our little Bella set him straight." Rosalie said with a smile that was befitting of a proud mother.

"Yeah, well I seemed to be the only one that was concerned about this being a danger to her." I scowled at Edward as everyone growled in my place.

"Edward, we all heard about how bad she was when we left. If these visitors are a threat to us, how do you think she would fare if she knew something happened to us?" Rosalie offered, but Edward quickly had a response.

"She has Charlie, Renee, and friends at school that would worry over her. She has more to live for than a couple of vampires."

"Can you guys shut up? They've caught our scent, and they're not sure if we're the ones that they are looking for yet." Alice said in a slight whisper that I only caught because I was standing near her.

"When will they get here?" Jasper asked of his wife.

"They're here."

I looked to where Alice's eyes were trained but I could only make out three figures that stood still. The two males were tall and quite handsome, but they also seemed to be only slightly older than me. The smaller one was definitely younger than I was and my heart went out to her for being turned so young. Who would even do such a thing?

"Hello, my name is Carlisle, and this is my family. I apologize for meeting you three in full force, it's just we're protective of our territory since we keep a permanent residence here."

The vampires before us had the same inquisitive look that James, Victoria, and Laurent had when Carlisle mentioned a permanent residence.

"My name is Diego, and this is Fred and Bree. We've come because we are looking for the Cullen Coven. Would you be able to direct us to them?"

I looked to Carlisle, waiting to see if he was going to say that we were the Cullen's but he seemed to be deliberating himself on what his next words should be. "We are the Cullen's that you speak of, but we are a family, not a coven." Edward spoke up. Everyone, including Carlisle was shocked that he spoke up. "They haven't come to bring us harm, but to warn us." Edward explained to the rest of us, effectively leaving the three new vampires stunned.

Diego softly whispered. "Forgive us, but how did you do that?" He asked.

"I'll explain later, but please continue with your visit. You came to warn us, warn us of what?" Carlisle said to take control of the conversation once again.

"The others and I were turned by a female. We never saw her face, but we were all made by her. Diego thought that she was using us for protection, but we didn't know what for. Soon Diego and I suspected that Riley, the vampire who watched over all of us, was lying to us. He told us that sunlight would kill us, but after a long night out hunting, Diego and I discovered that wasn't true. There were other consistencies." The small one, Bree stated. I turned my attention to Fred who seemed extra nervous with his surroundings but remained quiet.

"One night, Bree and I followed Riley, thinking that he was going to meet up with her." Diego started but Emmett interrupted.

"Who is 'her'?" He asked impatiently. I couldn't even deny I was eager to know who she was also.

"We'll get to that. You see, just like we never saw her, we never knew who she was either." Diego looked over all of us briefly settling on me before his eyes raked over the Cullen's again. "We were right; Riley met up with our mysterious maker, making plans for us and the others to attack you. They were about to get into details but were interrupted." Diego paused and looked at Bree. "The Volturi? There were three of them, but from the conversation it sounded like there are more of them somewhere." Diego said, and I felt Edward tense up and saw him look at Carlisle. I could tell that Carlisle was having some sort of one way conversation with Edward.

"Victoria and Riley created a newborn army to come for us. The Volturi reacted to the killings in Seattle." Edward finished for our benefit.

"They killed Victoria and Riley after getting some information from them regarding you and your pet human. Who I imagine is this one right here." Diego continued as he leered in my direction, but it seemed sympathetic somehow.

"One said she wanted to speak with someone named Aro after dealing with the newborns. Diego and I did a fairly good job of covering our tracks while following Riley to his spot, so we weren't worried about the Volturi knowing that we were there. My only concern however was the rest of the newborns. They were going to kill them as well."

"Ugh, don't tell me there are a bunch of newborns out and about with free reign to do whatever they want just because you had a bleeding heart, figuratively speaking of course." Rosalie stepped up and confronted Bree face to face, who now looked scared of the blonde bombshell.

"No, no, no." She stammered. "We didn't get along with any of them. And they were horrible to me. The only one I cared about was Fred. I went back for Fred because he saved me a couple of times. He didn't deserve what the Volturi were about to do with the rest of them."

"So where does my family come in?" Esme asked.

"Like I said, they know that a human knows about vampires. Which I'm assuming is just as big of a no-no as making a newborn army. It seemed only logical that after speaking to Aro they're next stop would be here."

Carlisle looked behind at all of us as he took in the information presented to him. "Thank you for your warning," He simply said.

"Do you mind me asking you a question?" Bree said, stepping forward a few steps. "How can you stand it? Her blood smells so good." She licked her lips and I could see her eyes draining from red to black. I instinctively stepped away from her as every single one of the Cullen's pushed me back further to separate me from the thirsty vampire.

"I believe your visit is overstayed. If you must hunt, please refrain from hunting within a hundred miles of here. This is our home." Carlisle stated pointedly.

"I'm so sorry, please forgive me. That wasn't the question I even meant to ask." Bree held up her hands to her mouth. Edward sighed as he glared back at her.

"What's your question then?"

"The Volturi mentioned that you drink animal blood instead of humans. Is that better?"

"I've never tasted human blood before, even while making my family. But from what I've determined of our diet, choosing to show compassion for humans by dieting solely on animal blood, allows us to remain in close approximation to humans. We are able to play the role of a typical family for the most part because we are not driven by the bloodlust. I'm even a doctor by profession." Carlisle said answering Bree's question.

The vampires looked back at Carlisle with awe as they tried to make sense of what they just heard.

"If you like, you may follow us to our house and my husband will be more than willing to tell you of our lifestyle." Esme mentioned casually. "And to make you feel more at ease, our children will remain from the house. It'll just be my husband and me."

The thought of these vampires attacking Carlisle and Esme frightened me. I frantically looked back and forth between Edward and Esme, but no one seemed to share my worries.

Simultaneously, the three vampires nodded their heads without conferring with one another and started running after Carlisle and Esme.

"Alice, can you see anything about the Volturi's actions? More than likely the guards that were in that cabin were Jane and Demetri; I'm not sure who the third one would have been. Aro has so many guards to choose from, it could have been Alec, Felix, or someone we've never heard of." Edward kept talking while Alice gained a faraway look into the future.

"That's never going to happen!" Edward suddenly screamed with rage that I jumped away from him and sought refuge behind Rose.

"How about those of us who aren't mental get filled in as well? What's not going to happen?" Emmett looked between Edward and Alice, who were in a deadlock against each other as well.

"Edward, whatever it is, is not Alice's fault. Calm down." I whispered and he slowly but visibly began to relax.

"Aro is sending an invitation for us to go to Italy. Jane, Demetri and Felix will be here to deliver the message." Alice said nervously.

"So what's so bad about that? You go to Italy and talk to this Aro and come back home." I said matter-of-factly.

"No, when Alice says us' that includes you too. You're coming to Italy as well." At once, Edward's body contorted in such a way I never knew was possible. I leapt down to lay beside him, but he was in so much pain that tears were falling down my eyes for him.

"Edward! What's wrong? Somebody go get Carlisle, quick!" My eyes never left Edward's face and I couldn't hear if anybody started running towards the house. All of a sudden I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist and yank me onto my feet. Jasper's hand immediately slid from my waist to my mouth, keeping me from screaming.

"Sorry about that." My eyes widened when I followed the angelic voice to a small vampire that seemingly appeared from nowhere. "But I just hate it when someone ruins my surprise."


	7. Chapter 7: Who Else?

"Jane." Alice narrowed her eyes at the petite vampire that was a part of a group that seemed to float towards us at a formidable pace. I realized that the effect was achieved because I could hardly see their feet moving underneath their dark grey robes. I looked at the girl, and I was shocked at how young she was. She reminded me of a doll and I couldn't help but wonder how old she was.

"Cullens." An innocent smile curled itself on her lips and stayed there as if to dare someone to challenge her."

"Do you mind releasing my brother? He's done nothing to deserve your torture." Alice's voice was steady and confident and I prayed that there was little need to be afraid. But of course, as I was watching Edward continue to writhe in pain, there was every reason to be afraid of this group.

Jane rolled her eyes apathetically and instantly Edward's body began to relax but he didn't want to move at all. I couldn't control my breathing and was taking big gulps of air of relief. From behind Jasper, I could see the three vampires peering back at me.

"So it's true? Your human pet is to blame for the mayhem in Seattle you know? We've dealt with the issue. However…" The tallest of the vampires trailed off and Jane finished his sentence.

"And now as such, we must deal with her. Aro wishes to assess the damage done by your recklessness. All of you, including the blood donor," she looked at me with disdain and I returned the favor, "are officially invited to Volterra this Monday." Again Jane rolled her eyes since she would much rather have killed us. With the way Rosalie suddenly growled at her, I knew my thoughts weren't too far off. I looked over to Edward and saw that he was slowly getting to his feet. It seemed he was still going through aftershocks of whatever Jane did to him. I finally started to take stock in what Jane was saying

"She's not going anywhere. Aro can see all that he needs to see from any one of my family. He will not touch her!" Edward managed to raise his voice. Alice simply shook her head at her brother, and when Edward suddenly slammed back to the ground, it was obvious she was telling him not to say anything.

"What he meant to say is that we would be honored to visit the Volturi in Italy. However, it may present a problem for our human and her family if she were to suddenly disappear.

"It's non-conditional. All of you must be in Volterra." The tall one stated too firmly.

"I'm not disputing that. We will join you in Volterra. However, in two weeks' time, we would have had graduated from high school and also better prepared a cover story for Bella to be away. That way the humans won't be suspicious of anything, or us, should anything go wrong." Alice spoke and I gasped as I realized that if something happened to go wrong, I'd be dead.

Jane seemed to take all this into consideration and let out a huge sigh. "Very well, Aro will just have to be delayed for a few weeks. You are expected to be in Volterra the day after your graduation. We will make all of the arrangements to pick you up from the airport. Anything that happens after that is up to you and your pet. Aro may enjoy killing her so I'd come up with cover story for that too." Her eyes were slits as she looked at me. I felt fear as she continued to stare at me uncomfortably. It wasn't until the shorter of the two male vampires placed his hand on her shoulder that she appeared to bring herself back to reality.

She looked at her two companions and they understood that it was time to go. The males turned and started to make their way back to the tree line but Jane remained. Her eyes again found mine but they were no longer the evil slits that they were beforehand.

"It's a shame that I didn't get to meet Carlisle, I've heard a great many things about him. Please give him the regards of Aro, Caius, and Marcus." And without another word, or even a chance for someone to respond, she turned and followed the other two vampires. And within two seconds, she was out of my sight.

"Edward!" I rushed over to him the first chance I got since this whole ordeal even started. I couldn't help smothering his face with my hands to make sure he was okay. He was getting to his feet a little faster than before, so I took it as a good sign that he was feeling better. "What did she do to you?"

Edward straightened himself up and closed his eyes as if he was listening to something faint. The only thing I thought he would be remotely interested in was whether or not the other vampires had left the area.

"I'm alright now. It's her gift. Jane has the ability to make her victims think that they are in the worst imaginable pain. But you're okay though?" Edward searched my eyes looking for something in them to betray my answer as I nodded my head.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Jane experienced some frustration at the end there, was she trying to hurt Bella?" Jasper asked in Edward's direction.

"She was, but Bella blocked it somehow. We'll deal with that later. We need to get back to the house to see Carlisle." There was a silent moment between Edward and Alice before Edward nodded his head. From the corner of my eye, I watched as Rosalie and Emmett ran for the house. "Bella, I'm going to run ahead. Alice and Jasper will run with you."

I was furious with Edward when he didn't even give me a chance to argue with him. He took off running to catch up to Emmett and Rose, leaving me alone with Jasper and Alice.

"I guess whenever bad vampires come to town looking for me, it'll always be you two that are on guard duty." I shook my head and they started walking closer to me. "I promise I won't run off to the nearest ballet studio." I chuckled sadly at my little joke. I knew now that it was stupid of me to run off and meet James alone last year from Alice and Jasper, but I thought my mom was in danger.

"Bella," Jasper started and held out his hands to help me on his back. "A vampire that was so hell bent on your destruction, that she created an army, was killed. You've just discovered that you are impervious to some vampire gifts. Don't be so down. Regardless of what happens, it will be my pleasure to protect you."

"But that's just it Jasper. You are always protecting me. But when I needed Edward, he left me. He didn't protect me at all."

"Isabella Marie Swan, and hopefully one day Cullen!" Alice's eyes were completely drained of color as she stared me down and stalked over to me. "You forgave Edward of his stupidity, so I don't ever want to hear you bring it up again in that context. Edward _thought_ he was protecting you when he left. He was stupid; we get it, now you need to get over it. Don't hold his stupidity over him. Edward would die if it meant that you were safe. Again not the brightest idea, but it's his. Now listen to me, I told him that he needed to leave you with me because I needed to talk to you. I blocked him so he has no idea why. But you have to listen to me or else we're all dead."

Alice's cold hands gripped my shoulders and I gasped at the intensity of her words.

"You have to convince Edward to change you before we leave for Italy. It's the only way. I've been seeing the outcomes, and it's a little iffy if we bring you to Italy as a human. Aro's decisions are clouded because he hasn't actually met you and Jane hasn't apprised him of your gift yet. No doubt she's waiting for him to touch her and he'll make his own assessment then."

"Wait, touch her?"

"Aro has the gift to hear every single thought a person has had with one touch." Alice explained. "It's similar to Edward's, but he can only hear what everyone is thinking at the moment he's listening. Aro will know every single thought you've ever had just by touching you."

I shuddered at the thought of someone knowing everything I thought since I was born. It seemed like even more of an invasion of privacy than when I thought Edward could hear what I was thinking.

"But Edward can't hear my thoughts, and Jane couldn't hurt me either. Does that mean Aro won't be able to hear me either?" I looked in between Alice and Jasper waiting for someone to answer me. Alice scooped me up and put me on her back. I knew she was a vampire, and would have no trouble holding me, but it still seemed weird.

We started running and I closed my eyes in anticipation for the run. Of course when I opened them, we were standing in front of the manor.

"I don't know. Aro is much older than Jane and Edward combined, but a vampire's age has never factored in whether or not it'll work against someone. I am concerned about the physicality of it all." I looked at Jasper, suggesting that he continue.

"The physicality?"

"Well, it's a theory that I just started formulating when Edward confirmed that Jane couldn't hurt you. Edward can't hear your thoughts, and I'm sure there are other gifts, mental gifts that can't affect you. And yet Alice and I can still use ours against you. To me, there is only one explanation."

"No, that's where you're wrong. Alice can still see my future. If I decided to go see the wolves right this second, she'd see my future disappeared. That's a decision that I made mentally." I started to argue.

"No, Alice sees the outcome of a thought process. She knew you were coming to Forks because she saw you in Forks. Not because you thought of going to Forks. I think you can block anything that comes at you mentally."

"That's an interesting thought Jasper." I was so engrossed in what Jasper was saying that I didn't even notice that Alice carried me into the house. I slid down Alice's back quite embarrassed with myself, though I didn't know why. Everyone knew that I probably would have tripped through the threshold if I walked by myself. In fact, I wouldn't have put it past her if she saw that was going to happen, and saved me the trouble.

Carlisle looked as if we had interrupted a meeting with Jasper's conclusion. In fact, the three vampires from before were still sitting on the couch and Edward was in midsentence.

"Edward says that Jane tried to harm Bella, but it didn't work. Fascinating…" Carlisle was already deep in thought, and I was beginning to worry about it when Edward cleared his throat to bring everyone back to the conversation.

"None of the Volturi hinted that they knew about you three so you're free to go. Of course we wouldn't expect you to accompany us in Italy." Edward started up again, seemingly annoyed at our intrusion.

"Except for one problem," I spoke up without even realizing it. Everyone turned to me, and of course Rose had a scowl on her face which made me doubt the little bit of progress I thought we made. "Umm, well if Aro touches one of you he's going to know about them. What if he sends the mod squad after them? Their deaths would be on our hands. You know, so to speak." I looked down and shuffled my feet.

"And what do you propose Bella?" I was shocked that Emmett was the one that asked me, although when I looked up, Edward was standing defensively with his arms crossed over his chest. I felt horrible for what I was about to do to him, so much that I wouldn't even look at him in the eye.

"Esme, Jasper, could you escort Edward away from the manor so that he can't hear anything?"

"No! I'm not going anywhere. What are you doing Bella?"

"Edward, just go, you need to hunt. And I can't think with you glaring at me and objecting to what I'm going to suggest."

"That's because you're going to suggest something crazy." Esme and Jasper were holding him back from trying to grasp me. I knew there was no reason to be afraid of Edward, he'd never physically hurt me, and I knew that they weren't afraid of it either. Everyone just seemed to know that if he touched me, I'd lose my resolve. All the arguments on how best to handle this would cease.

"Edward, Alice already scolded me for not letting the past go, but I have to bring it up once more." I looked pointedly at Alice, who looked annoyed and was tapping her feet. "You made a crazy stupid decision a few months ago, and left. And now that I'm telling you to go, we'll be even." I paused, "So go."

"Come on Edward. We'll find a mountain lion for you to eat. Let's go." Esme rested her hand on Edward's face and pulled him to look at her. "Edward." He finally allowed his body to move with them, and they ran out of the house. I looked to Alice's cue that they were out of range until she pointed at me.

"In the meadow, Alice said something about coming up with a cover story for me to go to Italy. And it's more than necessary for this plan that I have. I'm not sure about these three yet but as far as I'm concerned, I have to die."

"Die? What do you mean?" Carlisle asked with a hint of worry on his face. I never took my eyes off of Alice, hoping I'd catch a glimmer of her liking what I was about to suggest.

"You and Esme are going to go over to my father's house within the next three days or so, and convince Charlie to let me go on a cruise or something so extravagant that it's worth bragging about and being super excited for. However, about four days before graduation, I disappear, I run away. But I'm really in the process of becoming one of you. That way when we get to Italy, we can say that it was always your intention to turn me. Which would have happened anyway, we're just moving up the timetable."

"But that couldn't possibly work? Wouldn't we be suspects in your sudden disappearance?" Rosalie glared at me.

"No. They might come and ask questions, but you'll be here grieving, just like everyone else. Meanwhile I'll be somewhere close by that humans can't hear me screaming in agony but won't take you guys long to run and check on me. Hardly anyone ever sees Esme, and everyone thinks Rose and Emmett are in college, so they can check on me the most. Everyone else will go through the motion of playing their roles without me at school."

"Edward would never agree to this." Rosalie murmured barely loud enough for me to hear.

"I know. He had his heart set to trying to convince me to wait a few more years. But I honestly don't see a choice here. Alice said before, that by keeping me human, she couldn't get a clear reading on what was going to happen in Italy. And besides, didn't you say newborns were extremely fast and strong? If it came to a fight, I could help." Carlisle looked at Alice scolding her with his eyes.

"You'd hardly be controllable as a newborn. Let alone able to fight. Bella, you don't have a fighting bone in you." Rosalie spoke harshly to me, but she was right. I'd never been in a fight, ever.

"But I have to try. You're all in this because of me. Again. I'm tired of sitting on the sidelines as a human while you clean up the mess that my very existence tends to create." I realized that I was now pleading. A direction that I didn't think this meeting was going to turn to. I could feel the tears welling up behind my eyes.

"Okay, say we do this silly plan, what about the wolves? Turning you will void the treaty." Emmett spoke. And until he mentioned the wolves, I'd all but forgotten about them. My friendship with Jacob and presumably the wolf pack had ceased to exist when Jacob realized that I was letting the Cullen's back into my life. I hadn't talked to nor seen him in the months since they've been back. Thinking about how fragile that relationship was to begin with broke my heart.

"If we went through with this plan, I'd have to drive off somewhere and meet someone to take and dump the car in another state. Then go to wherever the transformation will take place. They'd undoubtedly help Charlie with a search, just like when I was in the woods after my birthday. We'd have to mask the scent somehow so that they would know that you aren't implicated in violating the treaty. As far as returning to Forks, we'd just have to wait until they die off before coming back." I swallowed hard as I thought of how calloused and casual I sounded when it came to their deaths, Jacob's death.

"She's kind of thought of everything." Emmett sat down on the arm of the couch and then looked over at our guests. "Well, almost everything."

"If you need someone to mask scents and whatnot, maybe I can help with that." Everyone paused to look at Fred. "It's sort of my gift. I can mask my scent, and anyone with me, so that anyone coming after us wouldn't even know we were ever there. Or if there's already a confrontation, I can emit a scent that acts as a repellant of sorts. It came in handy while running from the Volturi." Fred shrugged as if it was no big deal.

"Yes, well unfortunately, by coming here, you've also put yourselves on the radar with the Volturi as soon as Aro touches one of us." Carlisle was thinking out loud.

"Not everyone." I spoke up again. "From your conversations of Aro, however vague they may be, I understand that Aro likes power. He'll be distracted from digging any further when he realizes that he can't read my mind."

"No, he'll want to keep you. And he'll find ways of making that happen." Alice spoke for the first time since I called this meeting.

"Then we go with you." Bree offered up which surprised me. We were trying to keep them out of this mess. Especially me considering that they didn't have to warn us of anything.

"No you won't. You don't belong there."

"And you're human, you don't belong there either," Bree shot back and Diego's arm held her from jumping out of her seat.

"I'd rather the circle of people that are potentially hurt by this, remain small." I couldn't bring myself to say anything as far as death was to happen.

"Diego, Bree, and Fred, you are more than welcome to stay here and help out, but I think Bella is right. We shouldn't involve you any further than you already are. If the Volturi should find that they are interested in you, it will be through our thoughts, not because you volunteer to put yourselves in a fight. I would be grateful if you did stay to help with the cover story as proposed earlier." Carlisle as ever, was the diplomatic one, and I couldn't appreciate him any more than I did at that moment. Bree visibly calmed down and nodded in agreement.

"Umm guys? Edward is on his way back, what are we telling him?" Alice warned.

"We tell him nothing. Aro knows that he's my mate. Of all the vampires there, it would be logical to want to look into Edward's thoughts. If we go through with this, Edward can't know. We'll have to be extra closed off with our thoughts and actions with this."

The three vampires looked confused for a second until Carlisle explained that Edward could read minds. Alice gave them a crash course on how to conceal their thoughts with annoying songs and random thoughts. It seemed to me, that of everyone in the manor, she was an expert in hiding her thoughts from him.

"Just one more thing, before Edward gets into hearing distance," Carlisle looked at Alice to confirm that he was still out of range. "Who do you want to change you? We know Edward won't." I looked long and hard at the vampires in the room that were staring back at me.

The grin that spread on my face grew wider and wider when I saw the small vampire jumping up and sown quite impatiently. Everyone saw her enthusiastic gesture and immediately understood.

"Alice."

**A/N: This will probably be my last post until after Christmas (chillax it's only three days away!), so I hope everyone enjoys the holiday! Don't forget to review and let StarChild23 know how much you appreciate not having to read my typos anymore! **


	8. Chapter 8: Crash

"How sure are you that you want to go on this trip Bella?" Charlie had me cornered in the kitchen while I was making dinner for him. Carlisle and Esme just left the house and dropped the bomb on Charlie that they purchased a ticket for me to join them on their vacation to Rio de Janiero. It was flying out of Miami. I was shocked that they went as far to buy a ticket and give it to Charlie. His doubts made me realize that I underestimated his reaction to the generous gift.

"Dad, I'm super excited. And added bonus, since we're flying out of Miami, I can stop to see mom." Thinking of my mom only caused me to feel a twinge of pain. She had called earlier in the week to give me the good news that she and Phil were expecting a baby boy in four months. I was so excited for her that I jumped up and down. They hadn't decided on a name yet but with this plan in motion, I'd never get to see her again or meet my baby brother.

There were other things that I was going to miss too. I wouldn't be able to graduate high school as a human. Not so much regrettable, but I wouldn't get the chance to say goodbye to Angela and everyone else. One of the things I found regrettable was the fact I was taking the proposal and wedding moments away from Edward. I had no idea how he would react to knowing that he'd miss the opportunity to marry me while I was human, and I could only hope that he'd forgive me. I tried asking Alice but she was secretive about everything to do with the future now that it was extremely aggravating.

"I know. And I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time. It's just…," Charlie paused and looked at the floor and I could have sworn that he blushed a little. "It's just, you'll be gone on this cruise for two weeks, and then you'll be leaving for college, on the other side of the country mind you, a month and a half later. I won't have any time with you honey."

And there it is, the number one regret I was going to feel guilty of. By carrying out this plan, there was little room for closure for Charlie and everyone else who loved me. I'd be disappearing and starting a whole new chapter of my life, and they would have no idea how happy I was that I was with the one I loved. On more than one occasion I tried reworking the plan to allow for all of that to happen, but Carlisle was worried about my inability to control my thirst so close to my transformation. As it was, we were already lucky that the Volturi were making the arrangements to have a private plane transport us over the ocean. There would be minimal contact with humans for me.

"Dad, I know, but it'll be fun. I haven't really had much of that since I've been here, except for all the times I've hung out with you. And besides, I'll be home for every holiday. And since I know the idea of me and Edward moving into an apartment for school makes you uneasy, I'll even leave him back in Rhode Island. His family will be over there anyway. That way no one will be alone for the holidays." I tried to muster up enough pep in my voice to conceal the fact that my heart was breaking.

"Dang Bella, you don't have to do that. I like Edward plenty enough, now I guess. He's been nothing but dedicated since the great return. And I understand it wasn't his fault, so I can't really hold that against him. No, Edward can come home with you anytime." He gave me a kiss on my forehead and walked to the living room with his can of beer. A deep sigh and shudder overtook my body, threatening to break down into tears.

I had just taken the baked fish out of the oven when there was a slight knock at the door. I didn't pay much attention to it until Charlie made a huge production of who was at the door.

"Well look at what the cat drug in! Jacob, I didn't think I'd ever see you at this house again. Long time no see!" Charlie clapped Jacob on the back several times all the while ushering him into the house.

"Hey Charlie, I am not staying long, I only wanted to see Bella real quick." Jacob and I seemed to have an unspoken truce of not speaking to each other. I had made it clear that I was Switzerland in the Wolf versus Vampire campaign, and it wasn't good enough for him. It wasn't until I physically saw him that I realized how much I had missed him all this time.

"Oh, okay. Umm dad, dinner is ready. Can you fix your own plate?" I asked as I grabbed my coat. It was spring but the air was still unnaturally cool outside. Of course if I was a wolf, or once I became a vampire, the weather wouldn't affect me.

"I can take care of myself Bella. If you're only stepping out for a few minutes, how are you going to leave me alone for Rio for two weeks?" Charlie grumbled on his way to the kitchen when I passed him. I swallowed back a smile that tried to escape.

"Wait, Rio?" Jacob asked surprised. I internally groaned because there was only one reaction that Jacob was going to have to this news, bad.

"Yeah, the Cullen's invited Bella to a trip to Rio de Janiero the day after graduation. It was awfully generous of them. But still I wish they'd let me chip in. It's too much." I of course started to feel guilty. There was no way the Cullen's would have let him chip in for a trip we had no intentions of going on.

Charlie began letting the smells from the kitchen entice him more and he seemed to have nothing else to say on the matter.

Jacob closed the door behind us and stared down at me since I had stepped off of the stoop. For a moment, I thought he wasn't going to speak. All he kept doing was staring, hardly even blinking. I was about to brush past him and go back in the house when he finally opened his mouth.

"The Cullen's will be violating the treaty if they do this. We'll have no choice to hunt them down and you, if you go through with this." He said.

"What by taking me on vacation? I don't remember that being part of the treaty." I knew he would be angry but I had no idea he'd outright threaten me.

"You know exactly what I mean. Whether they bite you in Forks or if you're bitten anywhere in the world, the truce is over and we declare war." Jacob was practically growling at me and I couldn't help but wonder when we had turned into enemies. I still had so much love for him, but it seemed that these last few months put an unfixable strain on our friendship where Jacob was concerned.

"There are no plans for me to be bitten Jacob Black! This is really a vacation slash graduation present. As much as I would love for it to be much more, Edward is vehemently against me turning into a vampire. And as such, no one in the family will go against his wishes. I'm going to that island and possibly hoping to get a tan." I crossed my arms across my chest and glared right back at Jacob.

"Don't play games with me Bella. You and I both know neither one of those bloodsuckers can go out in the sun. There is no way you're going to a sunny island with them." He grabbed my wrist and it was like he had no clue how hard he was gripping me.

"It's the truth," I tried twisting my arm out of his grasp, but it only hurt me more than just his grip. "Can you let go of me? You're hurting me." Jacob looked down at his hand and it was almost as if he hadn't realized that he had grabbed me. "The only thing about the trip that we're holding back on is that we're only landing in the Rio de Janiero. Carlisle purchased an island for Esme several years ago. It'll just be us on the island and we're coming back after two weeks. I'll have plenty of time to relax back home in Forks as a human, before I go off to college."

"You're really not planning on becoming one of those monsters?" Jacob asked a bit too longingly than I felt comfortable with.

"As much as I know you're going to hate me for saying this, but I wish." I stared at Jacob impossibly and shook my head. I already hated the idea of lying to Charlie, but lying to someone I considered my best friend hurt too. "Edward will only agree to _think_ of changing me on the condition that I accept his marriage proposal. But since I don't believe in marriage, it's not ever going to happen. Then of course he wanted to come to the council and ask for permission." I sat on the stoop as if I was completely defeated in my quest to become a vampire.

"He asked you to marry him?" Jacob spoke through his teeth and looked away from me.

"I didn't tell you that to make you angry Jake. I've missed you terribly and I haven't had anyone to confide in. I love him, I always will, but I don't want to be pressured into marriage, let alone bribed into it."

"Bella, stay with me. We'll be together any which way you want. If you don't want to get married, we don't have to. I love you, and I know you love me. You won't have to change for me." I looked into his eyes and I could feel myself getting lost in the deepness of them.

"Jake. I can't. It'll always be him. Even if I have to spend my entire life as a human, I'm going to spend it with him." I got up from the stoop and headed for the door. "Hey. Why did you come here today? It couldn't have been about the trip. Charlie only just told you about it."

"I missed you." He said without looking at me and then he did something I never thought he'd do so carelessly. He transformed into a wolf right before my eyes and started dashing into the woods.

I followed his gaze until he disappeared in the dense tree line.

"Hey you're not eating?" Charlie said as he was polishing off his plate. I was too focused to run up and hideaway in my room to eat.

"No. I'm not hungry. I'll clean up later." I called down from the top of the stairs and hurried to my room.

"He didn't catch my scent. He's too involved emotionally to even guard you properly." Edward's silky voice called to me from my rocking chair that I kept in the corner.

"Can you blame him?" I flippantly asked before plopping myself onto my bed. "Why aren't you at the manor?"

"No, I guess I can't. Whenever you're involved I can only think of you. Everyone at the house is avoiding me or thinking of something pretty annoying, or in Emmett's case vulgar things. And my devious little lamb is at the center of it, I'm sure. So I've come here to dull their minds." I smiled as Edward left the chair and came to sit beside me on the bed.

"Are you mad?"

"Hmm?"

"Mad that I'm keeping something from you…" I whispered.

"No. I may not like this method, but I know you. And this is something that you wouldn't take lightly. I just wish you weren't scared of the Volturi."

"How could I not be? Everyone claims they're ruthless killers that claim it's necessary to do so under the law. They sound so power hungry and vile. Of course I'm scared."

"We can handle it Bella." And with that he kissed me and started humming my lullaby. It seemed like forever since I'd heard it and I welcomed it along with the sleep that accompanied it.

I was surprised to find myself alone when I woke up, well, surprised but happy. It was still a bit early for me to get ready for school, but I was going to need the extra time to make everything work. I hurried in the shower, and I left my hair wet to dry naturally. I changed into my jeans and a blue sweater and quickly walked down the stairs.

I was a little shocked to see Charlie sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee reading the paper. His hair was messed up from the night but it was totally endearing on him this morning. "Hey Dad," I nodded to him as I grabbed one of my text books and shoved it into my bag.

"Hey Kiddo, you're up early."

"Yeah, I need to get some gas in the monster and I want to get some studying done for my Chemistry final." I said nonchalantly. I walked up behind him and hugged him from behind around his neck. "Dad, I love you, and I'm so glad I made the decision to move here."

He clasped my hands with his free hand and turned his head to give me a kiss on my cheek. "I love you too Bells, and I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am that you made that decision." I gave him a kiss back on his own cheek before picking up my bag. I was fighting back tears as I turned back towards him from the front door. "I'll see you when I get home." But he didn't see me since he had already returned back to the newspaper. The tears were pouring down my face by the time I reached my car. I laughed at how I slipped and called the blue convertible that Alice gave me, the monster. It was my nickname for my old truck. For the most part, Edward insisted on driving me everywhere so it was on a rare occasion that I even drove the new and improved beautiful machine. I never even really had time to properly mourn the truck. I guess since the car was so smooth and fast, maybe the name monster could still fit.

I stopped to get gas at the station on the way to school and went inside to pay. The attendant was surprised that I came inside since I usually just paid at the pump. But he didn't think much about it when I bought a bottle of water and a bag of sunflower seeds along with my gas. First stop done.

I also stopped at the small coffee shop on the way to school, and chatted up Mike's older brother Chris as he made my hot chocolate. Stop number two.

I turned into the school parking lot and took several deep breaths before getting out. I ran into the administrative building and was glad to see Mrs. Cope.

"Hey darling, what can I do you for?" Mrs. Cope's fire engine red hair was even more unnatural looking which only meant she had another dye job recently. The matching red lipstick was smeared on her lips and even some of her teeth.

"Umm, I came by to pick up my cap and gown." I handed her my ticket so she could retrieve it.

"Oh yeah," she said with an excitement that I didn't know she could manage. "Are you excited to be done with high school? You only finish once, you know?" She laughed at what seemed to be her own joke and she rolled her chair over to where they were keeping the caps and gowns.

She came back with the plastic bag that contained my cap and gown. It was a hideous yellow that I was never going to be able to pull off with my complexion. I was suddenly happy that I was going to miss my graduation. "Yeah, and soon I'll be college bound. It's an exciting time really. I actually can't wait to hear Eric's valedictorian speech." I chuckled at the enthusiasm that I put on for Mrs. Cope before leaving the warmth of the front office, and ran back to my car. I was now officially done with my stops.

The parking lot was still quite empty since school didn't start for another forty-five minutes. I hopped back in my car and began driving towards the state line.

The plan was set and was completely in motion, so far so good.

It was just before the state line that I was to meet up with Alice, Fred, Rose and Emmett.

"Are you sure you want to do it this way?" Alice asked me as my last way out. And although I would have much rather Edward be the one to turn me, I was happy I chose Alice. I nodded my head and got out of the car.

"How did you get rid of Edward?" I asked when I saw Rose get into my car and start driving off. Her role was to destroy the car, but not before driving it several states away.

"Esme needed to hunt, and she invited Edward to go with her since Carlisle had a shift at the hospital. Once she turned on the charm, he couldn't resist." She seemed smug at how well we were playing on his weaknesses.

I nodded as I took everything in. Fred was sticking close to all of us in case the wolves were able to smell the scent of my car and lead them to this spot. That way they wouldn't follow the vampires once we left this area and instead keep following the trail that Rosalie led with the car. After that it was going to be doubtful that they'd be able to follow it much further since she was going to drive it into a river. The water would confuse their scent and they wouldn't even be able to tell that a vampire had been in the car. We had to thank Jasper for thinking of that one, but Rose wasn't too happy that her hair was going to get wet. She also didn't want to pass up the opportunity to drive my car.

The rest area we stopped at was pretty deserted. It worked to our favor because it was by the woods, even if it was by the state line. Emmett scooped me up in a bear hug and started running past the trees. I kept my face tucked into his chest to protect me from the wind and the nausea that sometimes accompanied running with vampires.

"Where are we?" I asked once we stopped. I took a look at our surroundings and I noticed we were in a darkened log cabin. There were slightly tattered curtains in the windows and I couldn't see what the scenery looked like beyond them.

"We're at an abandoned Ranger's station, Crater Lake National Park to be exact. Now Bella we don't have enough time. I still have to go to school and act like everything is normal." I tried to remember if there was anything about Crater Lake that I knew about and then I realized that meant we were in Oregon.

"Did you bring the scarf?" I dug into my bag and pulled out the infinity scarf that Alice bought for me a while ago. I had only worn it a few times but Alice insisted I bring it for today.

"Yeah, why do you need it again?" I asked curiously.

"In case Edward smells you on me today, I can say I borrowed your scarf. It's plausible since I bought it for you, that I'd wear it."

I noticed Fred looking around uneasily as if he was on guard for something, and I followed Alice to a table. "Get on and take off your coat." She instructed and I did as I was told. It wasn't completely freezing, but without my coat it was almost unbearable. "Carlisle gave me some morphine; he thinks it'll keep you from feeling the burning of the transformation." I soon felt pricks all over my body where I assumed she pierced me with the needle. My arms, legs, she even got me in my abdomen; throat and finally she stabbed the syringe into my heart. And not long after that I felt her bite me on my wrist, the same spot that James bit me a year earlier. I felt a warm tingling sensation that spread from my wrist and up my arm. I had no idea what was in store for me until the tingling took a different turn and the fire was searing me, from the inside out. And then my eyes closed from the pain.

Edward's POV

"Edward, is it that time already?" Esme asked as she concealed the elk that she drained. Her eyes were back to their golden hue, as were mine I was sure. I sat on a fallen log waiting for her to finish. I was glad that Esme came to me early in the morning at Bella's house and invited me on a hunt. She was right; it had been some time since it was just the two of us. It was a time that I missed and cherished.

"Yes. I have enough time to run home and change before school starts in forty five minutes." I informed her, though there was little need.

We began running through the forest and it took us twenty minutes to run back to the house. Esme told me the others had gone off on their own hunting trip while Rose and Emmett left yesterday for a last minute getaway before having to go to Italy. Emmett was very mentally vocal on what he planned on doing to Rose on their mini vacation. It was weird having three extra vampires in the house with us, though they seemed to be taking to the vegetarian lifestyle rather well; making their eyes a burnt sienna color as the human blood was filtering out of their system.

I ran up the stairs and got into the shower, and took some time washing up. Typical Alice, she managed to lay out the clothes she wanted me to wear to school, and I found them on my bed. Today she chose a light blue dress shirt to wear underneath a dark grey sweater, and dark blue jeans; all of which was Ralph Lauren. Alice mercifully allows me to pick out my own underwear and shoes.

"Hi big brother, ready to go?" Alice was standing by the hood of my car waiting for me to drive her to school.

"Sure. How was your hunt?"

She shrugged and sighed, "Uneventful." I listened out to her thoughts and she was thinking of what to get Bella for graduation. Maybe even throw her a party. Without meaning to, I grimaced at the idea of another party.

"Hey! Edward, no fair! You're not supposed to know!" Alice whined and pouted.

"I'm sorry; I just don't think it's a good idea. You saw how disastrous the last party was." I pointed out.

"Yes but that's not going to happen again. Jasper has learned to control himself a lot better and you aren't going to do something so stupid. Hopefully you learned from your last mistake."

I rolled my eyes at her comment but stayed silent and continued the drive to school. All of the students were running from their cars to the school and when I looked at the clock, I noticed that we were running later than I thought, the first bell had already rung.

"See you at lunch." Alice called out to me and ran at a decent pace to her first period class. I had Spanish first period so I wasn't in any particular rush to get there on time.

The whole day was a blur and I breezed through my first of seven finals. I wasn't going to see Alice or Bella until our lunch period together, and I had no particular reason to pay attention to anything until fifth period.

"Edward?" Mr. Green, our principal pulled me away from whatever thoughts I had and brought me out to the hallway. I tried listening to his thoughts but he was too worried about something that they were incoherent. "These officers would like to speak with you."

I heard the whispers of my fellow classmates as I stepped completely out of the class. To the side I could see Alice standing with them as well. My eyes immediately narrowed and I listened into the thoughts of the two police officers that were confronting us. I immediately recognized them as two deputies that worked with Charlie. They too were worried but what started to strike fear was when the one officer, Andrews, thought of Bella.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"When was the last time you saw and spoke to Isabella Swan?" Andrews asked me.

'_Edward, you can't say you talked to her on the phone. They'll check phone records_.' Alice quickly thought to me.

"I was supposed to go over there last night but she mentioned she wanted to study alone for her final." I said. There was no way I could admit that I sneak into her room every night.

"And where were the two of you between the hour of six thirty and seven thirty?" The other officer Carlor asked.

"We were home getting ready for school. Has something happened to Bella? What aren't you telling us?" I yelled. I was growing impatient with their questions and no one seemed to want to think about what had happened.

"I'm sorry. Bella's car, one that I'm told that was given to her from your family, was found this morning in the Yellowstone River. It went off the Carter's Bridge to Highway 89 in Wyoming. We're still trying to figure out what happened sir." I backed into the lockers that were lined up against the wall and tuned the rest of their questions out. I didn't even immediately register Alice's voice as she called to me when they had left.

"Alice we have to find her." I kept saying to myself

"We will. She'll be fine."

My world was gone.


	9. Chapter 9: Interrogation

I was in no condition to drive home from school so Alice drove us home. I heard her explain to everyone about what the police officers said to us at the school. My family seemed horrified enough but they kept their distance from me. I could feel myself slipping into the same coma that Charlie's mind told me Bella had. But even with that one fleeting thought of her father, I winced in inconsolable pain.

"Edward." Carlisle's calming voice called out to me. "Edward, I know you want to go track her down, but I think it's wise that we wait. The police will want to ask questions of the entire family and with it being so close to our visit with the Volturi, we need to deal with that threat first and be together when they arrive. We need to be united in this." _And then we'll go look for her._

I nodded at his hand on my shoulder, and no sooner did we hear the cars turning up the driveway.

"_I bet you they know something."_

"_Nah, I heard they were taking a trip and the Swan girl was going with them. I don't think they had anything to do with this."_

"_They don't have alibis."_

"_They have each other as an alibi."_

"_Having each other as an alibi, is hardly an alibi at all. They could be covering up together."_

I tuned the rest of the conversation out. "The cops think we have something to do with her disappearance." I didn't even want to risk saying her name, I couldn't trust my voice.

"We'll just have to act like we didn't." I heard Jasper's feet step up behind me and my eyebrows knit themselves together. I thought it was an odd thing to say and I was about to question Jasper about it but Alice was already running to the door.

"Good. I see you're all here." A pudgy officer with a handlebar moustache said as he walked through the foyer. His eyes settled on me pointedly after glancing at my family. Judging by his voice he was the one that was sort of defending my family.

The other officer showed an obvious disdain just for being in the manor. He had sandy blonde hair and was somewhat younger than his partner. But he had a baby face that was almost recognizable. He was a Newton, figured.

I was glad that Bree and her friends decided to leave last night. It would have been hard to explain their relationship to the cops.

"Alice and Edward have filled the rest of us in. Is there any news to Bella's whereabouts?" Carlisle asked immediately taking over the conversation.

The pudgy officer, Brand, quickly introduced himself and his partner, before answering Carlisle's question. He was ashamed to even have to address Carlisle for the sake of the investigation considering Carlisle saved his daughter's life after an accident last year. He held a lot of respect for Carlisle which seemed to extend to his family.

"I'm sorry, but we need to ask all of you a few questions. Where were you this morning?"

"Well, I was working a shift at the hospital. And as for my family, they were home. What they were doing, well you'd have to ask them." Carlisle answered smoothly.

"I made breakfast for the kids. Jasper came home early for the Alice and Edward's graduation. And Bella's of course. Then Alice and Edward left for school. Emmett and Rose were hoping to make it home, but they spent their first semester abroad and haven't arrived yet." Esme piped in.

"And the other two?" The Newton boy roughly asked.

"I was playing Call of Duty." Jasper pointed to the large T.V. that we mounted on the wall. The screen was paused on some war zone scene of the game.

"Edward. Are there any problems in your relationship? People say you two spent a lot of time together." Newton asked of me with a disgusting sneer.

"No problems. Everything was just fine."

"Are you sure about that? You seem a little tense. Are you hiding something from me boy?" He strolled closer to me and stood right in front of my face. I immediately stood up so that I was back in his and to his credit he only flinched a little before returning my stare.

Carlisle placed his hand back on my shoulder. I eased up the tension in my body just a little but I refused to back down from an officer, especially one that shared Mike Newton's genes.

"I'm sorry is any member of my family suspects? I can assure you we had nothing to do with Bella's disappearance." Carlisle tried to reassure the two officers in the room

"No. I can say with definite confidence that your family, the entire family," he cleared his throat pointedly towards Newton as if to remind him that we weren't suspects. "…are not considered suspects, or even persons of interest. We just had a few questions because this entire investigation is puzzling. Bella was last seen in the area around six forty five this morning and yet her car was found practically twenty one hours away."

"That wasn't Bella." I mumbled.

"What'd you say boy?" Newton practically spit in my face.

"First get out of my face." I gave him a tap and he staggered back, almost knocking into his partner. "Bella freaks out if she's in a car that's going ten miles over the limit. And if her car was found so far away in such a short period of time, she would have had to been driving between a hundred and a hundred and fifty miles per hour. Someone kidnapped Bella! And you're doing nothing but asking me dumb questions! Get out! Get out!" I really needed to hunt despite the three deer I drained this morning with Esme. Carlisle placed his hand on my shoulder and I felt Jasper's calming effect on me. If I'd been human, I might have fallen asleep.

"I'm sorry we can't help you further. But as you can see my family is deeply affected by Bella's disappearance." I heard Carlisle pause for a second before continuing, but that wasn't what drew me out of Jasper's trance. There was a slight hesitation in his mind that I'd heard when someone was holding back words. The two cops didn't notice my head snap up before Carlisle spoke some more before escorting them out of the house.

I tried listening further into all of their minds, but it was like there was a stronghold that wouldn't let me in. And that was in and of itself suspicious.

"What's going on? What aren't you telling me?" I looked Esme, Alice, and Jasper squarely in their eyes.

"What do you mean?" My eyes narrowed at Alice. I knew my family was lying to me, I just couldn't figure out for what reason and why.

"You're all hiding something from me and I want to know what it is." I tried to remain calm on my own, fighting off an additional wave of calmness from Jasper.

For twenty minutes, I had a staring contest with four of the six vampires I'd considered my family without speaking another word.

"Bella's out there Edward. We need to go search for her. Maybe we can make it to the site where her car crashed and we can track her." Esme offered since the silence seemed to unnerve her more.

I couldn't shake the feeling that they were still covering something up, but it was a good suggestion, an idea I was toying with myself. But I remained unmoving, staring intently in their eyes. I caught flickers of thought from Esme, something to do with the Volturi. What did the Volturi have to do with Bella's disappearance?

"Fine, I'll tell you. But before you get angry, Esme didn't know about this. Remember she was with you after the Volturi left." Alice's small voice piped up.

"So was Jasper." I pointed out.

"Yeah but I filled him in. And I don't want you to feel betrayed. We were all following orders, and quite frankly for a human, Bella was pretty scary." I narrowed my eyes at Alice's use of was. That wasn't something I wanted to hear. "And you never want to consider her ideas, that's why she sent you away. It really was the only way I clearly saw all of us remaining alive once we saw Aro." Alice was rambling, a feature that wasn't really becoming of her.

"How bad is it?" I growled out unwillingly.

"First you need to stop being so overprotective of Bella! We've talked about this." Alice cried out as I took a step towards her with my teeth bared. I quickly thought of either tearing her arm off or burning her entire Fall Collection of Coach bags. And I soon got the results that I wanted.

"Bella had us kidnap her. She's in the process of transforming in an abandoned ranger's cabin."

"WHAT!" I screamed. "You went behind my back and did this?"

"Bella insisted! And we all knew you wouldn't listen. You didn't see some of the things that I saw Aro doing to us if she remained human. Doing this to her before the trip was the only, and Edward I do mean ONLY way we continued to exist, without any consequences from the Volturi. I know you had plans for Bella to remain human, but trust me, there was a really high chance you wouldn't of been able to carry out even one of those plans had we gone to Italy with a human." Alice was yelling at me now and had backed me into the wall.

"Edward, we took a chance, and I'm sorry if this was at the cost of your trust. But Bella saw this as a way to save us all. But considering the things that Aro has done for punishment in the centuries that I was with the Volturi, she's done just that." Carlisle added, and I couldn't help but sink to the floor. A small part of me conceded that they were right.

"Take me to her." I said, resolving myself to stand. "I want to be with her."

**A/N: ****Sorry it took a while for me to update, writing in Edward's POV always gives me a headache for some reason; which is probably why this chapter is so short! Sorry! Read and Review! Let StarChild23 know she's doing a good job as my Beta!  
**


	10. Chapter 10: Second Guessing

Soon after the pain began, I struggled to keep from screaming. Everyone assured me that the little cabin was abandoned and far away from the trail, but I didn't want to take the chance that a hunter or a lost hiker would mistake my cries of pain for a cry of help. The fire that had burned internally choked me and I wanted nothing more than to pass out from the pain. It was weird to be in so much pain, but I tried holding on to the fact that the outcome would allow my family to live. No one knew what Aro had planned for us, not even him. And since he didn't know, Alice didn't either.

I simply had to be satisfied that with imagining happy moments of my life to get through the pain. I heard it often worked for prisoners of war, and I only hoped that it would work on me. I let my memory take me back to the very first day I saw Edward; the way his hair was tinged bronze in the sunlight and his golden eyes. He was simple perfection. The way he always seemed to know what everyone was thinking, of course I later found out that was true. I skipped over the moments that were without him, the two times that he left me, and concentrated on the kisses and embraces that were icy to the touch, but stilled warmed my heart.

Time ceased to exist. I only knew that it passed over me. It was all relative when I say that soon I could hear a commotion of yelling somewhere in the other room. Edward was here and I could hear how mad he was. I knew that this was going to happen sooner or later. I'd only hoped that I was going to be awake when he had to confront his family. I put them in an awful situation, one they took on freely, but still I felt like a monster.

"Rose? I can't believe you of all people were in on this too!" Edward was screaming.

"Well see that's the beauty of it, technically we're not people." I heard Emmett snickering at his little joke, but it fell on Edward's deaf ears. I wished I could tell him that I was okay. That this was for the best, but there was no use. My brain was defective somehow and he couldn't hear anything from my mind.

He cried into the curve of my neck as I continued to lay motionless on the table. I felt his hand grab mine, and the coldness did nothing for the burning sensation that rocked me throughout. I internally sighed as I felt completely and utterly useless.

"Edward, it's only the first day. She still has -." Carlisle's angelic voice tingled in the air until Edward cut him off.

"Leave." He growled low, very frightening to me. I really wanted to communicate to him now and let him know I was not happy with the way he was treating his family.

"Leave me and Bella. NOW!" On top of burning, my heart was breaking. As far as I knew, he'd never spoken to his family like that. Well maybe his siblings but definitely never at Esme or Carlisle. "You conspired against me, against my wishes. Leave us now." His words were barely above a whisper and though I strained to hear them, it was more than what I should have heard.

I waited to hear for the retreating footsteps, but the only clue that the Cullen's indicated that they left was a door slamming. Edward's hand was still entwined with mine and I could feel his breath near my ear again.

"Bella, I'm so sorry this happened to you. Just please wake up soon, love."

**2 Days Later**

The fire crept along my limbs first, moving towards my already burning heart. I tested my theory that I would be able to move somewhat by starting with my toes and fingers. Sure enough, I didn't feel any lingering pain from the movement, however slight it was. But suddenly, the pain tightened around my heart and I wanted nothing more than to cry out. But I knew Edward was here and I didn't want him to worry.

I thought I was going to breakout into a spasm and then my heart fluttered to a stop. All of the pain was wiped away. I opened my eyes completely and found myself in awe of the brilliant colors that shone through in the light. There were a few hues that I'd never even seen before and the sharpness and clarity in which I now saw, was insane.

"You're awake! I was beginning to get worried." Edward's arms rushed around me and for a split second I was stunned. His touch was completely different from the cool one I remembered. But my body reacted naturally, forming itself to mold to his. I relaxed into his embrace and his lips found mine eagerly.

"Bella, you must be ready to hunt. Once we've hunted, we can leave." Edward said as he pulled away from me. But the way he mentioned leaving seemed off. My mind started replaying the conversations between him and his family while I was under.

"What do you mean leave?" I asked with a slight growl. I backed away from him, step by step until we were the room length apart.

"We're leaving Forks, just you and me. We'll run off somewhere. I don't care; as long as we're together it won't matter." Edward took a few steps closer to me, but I held up a finger indicating for him to stop. This of course only confused him.

"What about your family and the Volturi?"

"They betrayed me! They are NOT my family."

His words stung me deep and I looked away from him to the floor. I found my way a few more steps back until I was against the wall for support.

"Can't you see we should just keep it as you and me?" Edward said those words again. The only way I would have agreed with him was if his family was a packaged deal. I was sure that we would have taken some time away from them like Rose and Emmett, but to me, forever meant with the entire family, not just Edward. His words angered me and I instantly crouched into a defensive pose and lunged at him.

My hand wrapped around his neck and I pushed him up against the closet wall. The logs of the cabin splintered off at impact, but the wall held. There was no time for me to revel in my newfound strength. "I will never, EVER leave your family with the mess that we created. It wasn't your family that so called betrayed you. It was me. It was my plan, my idea, and my decision. Your family expressed their concerns for your feelings, but I disregarded them. God, Edward, not everything is about you."

I couldn't believe that Edward would abandon his family because they disagreed with him. I realized I took away his vote in the matter, but he had done that to me far more times than I cared to count. He should just deal with it and move on.

I released my grasp from his neck and ran out of the cabin into the woods. I ran in a straight line for who knows how long and far. Maybe a few miles passed by before I smelled a familiar scent of berries and vanilla and I ran towards it, or really her. Alice.

"You look like you could use a friend, or at least an animal or two." Alice said with her oh so sweet smile. She was jumping up and down, and knowing her it was probably because she was the first one to see me after the change, well except for Edward. "Is your throat burning like fire?" She asked me, her head cocked to one side as if she was curious.

"My throat is more like a tickle. But it's growing I guess because it's the first time I noticed it." Alice's eyes practically burrowed into her nose with curiosity. But she didn't say another word, except for me to follow her. We ran for miles and yet I was nowhere near as tired as I should have been, nor was I falling all over myself.

She led me to an area that was near water. I could hear the water gurgling which reminded me of some type of river or stream.

"Okay can you smell anything?" Alice asked me, still bouncing up and down.

I wrinkled my nose like Samantha from Bewitched, as if I'd needed to turn my nose on. I took a deep breath and allowed the air around me to fill my dead lungs. "I smell the earth, the water from last night's rain, and something very… uh, meaty?" I guessed that was a good enough answer because Alice's smile grew even bigger.

"Okay so follow that nose of yours and get something to eat!" She practically shooed me away and disappeared on her own. I almost followed her, but that tickle in my throat was now a bit more persistent. I closed my eyes for an eighth of a second and ran towards the water. Once there, I was rewarded with a black bear that was picking at some fish in the stream. I was sure he was going to see me, or at least hear me, but he never looked up from the stream.

I pounced on him, effectively jumping over the stream, and bounced off of a large tree to change my direction so that I could land on the bear with my teeth by its neck. The stunned bear immediately tried to shake me off, but I sunk my teeth into his fur, and warm sticky fluid began to seep into my mouth. I thought I would be disgusted by the act of feeding for my first time, but this felt completely natural.

The poor bear didn't even have the heart to fight against me anymore and began to slip to the forest floor. My mouth continued to latch onto the wound I created until there was nothing left to flow through. I stood up and licked my lips. It was absolutely delicious! Granted it wasn't the grizzly bear that Emmett enjoyed, but I think black bears might be my favorite for the simple fact is was my first.

"Well, I'll definitely have to teach you proper technique so you don't get blood all over yourself." Alice laughed as she jumped from the very tree I used to rebound myself against. I looked down at my clothes and cringed at my blood stains. "Do you need more or are you good?"

"I'm good. I want to see every one first. Can we go back to the manor?" I asked. My thoughts went back to Edward and I could feel myself getting upset again.

"Sure. But umm, can we talk first?" Alice asked and I nodded yes. "I saw you went ballistic on Edward because of his idiotic plan, that's why I was here in the first place. But I don't want you to worry. Edward will come to his senses soon enough."

"But Alice, you're not hurt by his words, or actions, or thoughts? I mean he wanted to leave y'all high and dry. You guys have been there for him more than most families are for each other. And he didn't care. It hurt me." I felt my eyes tingling and I waited for tears, even though I knew they would never come.

"Well of course it hurts. But eternity is too short to hold a grudge against family. You know what I mean?" I honestly didn't but I figured she meant eventually everyone would move on and we'd be normal again. I hoped she was right.

We ran back to the manor, and it only took us an hour to get back. I couldn't help but take a deep breath as I walked through the door for the first time as a vampire.

A chorus of "Bella's," and "Oh my gods" rang out as I walked into the living room. I couldn't even begin to explain how uncomfortable I was with all of the attention on me. Emmett jumped over the couch to give me one of his famous bear hugs, only I could tell he was giving it more strength that he normally used on me.

"No holding back now, eh?" He waggled his eyebrows at me and I couldn't help but laugh.

"What are you Canadian, eh?" I asked.

"Well you know, sometimes."

"Bella I know you're anxious to know about what's been going on with your disappearance, but I think we need to focus on the Italy trip first. I can fill you in on everything else later." I nodded to Carlisle who I also silently thanked for shifting the attention a little from me. I looked around the room and saw my family, minus Edward. I really hoped Alice was right.

Carlisle said the timing was still on track. Alice went to her graduation the day before; Edward of course missed it because he was keeping guard over me. The Cullen's had been spreading the rumor around that they still intended on going on their trip to try to clear the minds of everyone about the details of my disappearance. Hopefully I'd be found before they returned.

"Does our plane still leave in the morning?" I turned around with a smile on my face that was bigger than my head at the sound of his voice. Alice had been right. Edward had come around after all.


	11. Chapter 11:All I Want is You

Despite the reason why we were in Italy, I couldn't help but to be overwhelmed by the sights I was seeing for the first time. The shops, the colors, the people, I could have done away with the smells of Italian cuisine but I learned to deal.

As soon as we touched down, three black SUV's met us in the hanger. The vehicles were operated in such military precision that they stopped at the same time and the three driver side doors opened, synchronized. It was absurd enough that I had to stifle a laugh.

Three vampires, that I did not recognize got out and stared us down briefly with their red eyes. I had no idea what any of them could do, but Edward's hand stiffened in mine, and I would have given anything to know what he 'heard.'

"Separate the mates." The tall and beautiful female vampire said to her acquaintances, her eyes immediately looking Rosalie over. It was as if the two beauties were internally seeing who was the fairest of them all. "Dr. Cullen, you will ride in the front car with me. The rest of you, will be split up. I'm Heidi, the umm local cuisine procurer." Heidi looked around all of us, searching the plane frequently and swiftly narrowing her eyes. "I thought a human was to accompany you?" Heidi seemed especially bored with her task.

"Bella was recently turned. There are no humans with us." Carlisle spoke. I was shuffled into the second truck, along with Emmett, Jasper and Esme. I didn't understand what the point was to separate everyone from their mates. The Cullen's were just as close to each other as they were to their mates. Well except for the physical aspects with their mates. But there was little room to argue and I kept my mouth shut since Emmett, the only vampire I knew never to be silent, was in fact silent.

I walked away from Edward, and started walking towards the vehicle that I was being ushered to when I felt Edward's grip on my wrist. I stared into his eyes as he closed the slight distance between us. He brought his lips to mine and we kissed so fervently. Panic began to rush through my head as I wondered why this kiss felt so urgent. Did he think we'd never see each other again? There were too many things that I wanted to, no needed to tell him. But everything just boiled down to the most romantic words in the world, 'I'm in love with you.'

He broke the kiss with a smile, his sexy crooked one and said "I'm in love with you too."

I looked back at him puzzled. "What? I didn't say anything."

"Oh I guess I was just thinking it." Edward walked away undaunted by what just happened. But something about what just transpired was bothering me. I stalked to the vehicle, Jasper and Esme were the only ones that were attuned to know something was bothering me, but no one said anything. I could just feel their stares.

I could feel the silence fill me up from the inside out, and my mind was left to my own devices. I couldn't stop thinking of my new family and how badly I felt that I put them in this predicament. There was nothing I wanted more than for all of us to be in the safety of the manor, back in Forks.

Being away from Edward was making me anxious. I could tell it was starting to irritate Jasper because he sent me several calming waves. Jasper was always overprotective of Alice and I knew he shared my anxiety with me.

We drove through the countryside at speeds I would never attempt to do as a human until finally we hit a town that was majestic and possessed an authentic rustic quality about it while boasting modern advancements throughout.

"Is this Volterra?" I asked our driver, who I found out later, was named Santiago. From the backseat, I could see a small smile perk up on the silent vampire. "It is." And with that, he went back to being the strong and silent type.

I shrugged back into my seat, and garnered a sympathy smile in my direction from Esme. Though I didn't need to, resting my head against Emmett's broad shoulders was very comforting considering none of us knew what fate was going to happen upon us.

"Hey little sis." Emmett lifted his arm around me as we dove into an underground tunnel. The new darkness didn't bother me because I could still see just as clear as if there was light, and I could also see farther down the tunnel to where it broke into a wider area.

The three trucks finally rolled to a stop inside a garage of sorts that was home to several different types of cars. I got out of the car and saw Rosalie admiring just about every car there was until she saw Emmett. I hurried over to Edward and everyone else found their mates and followed our three guides down a confusing hallway that lead to seemingly nowhere.

"Welcome to Volterra." A timid voice called out as we stepped into a brightly lit room that was furnished in all marble. I could smell that the owner of the voice was human before I saw her, and I was amused at how I couldn't tell how I should feel about sniffing someone. I always hated when Jacob and Edward did that to me.

The other vampires, didn't say one word to her, barely even glanced her way. We continued through a massive set of doors that you probably had to be a vampire to even open. Inside the immense room were three thrones with figures in each of them.

I assumed that the vampire that sat in the middle was Aro. A fourth vampire, a female with long black hair and hellish red eyes, walked to the staging area and stood directly behind the middle throne. I got the feeling that she was there on the off chance that Aro needed to be protected from us. Jane and the other two vampires that I recognized were standing at the ready against the wall along other more destructive looking vampires.

I watched as Aro rose from his great chair and walked down the three steps to be level with us. Only when the vampire walked, it looked more like he was gliding. The female vampire started to follow him but he held up his hand and motioned for her to stay back. He came closer to us and we met him in the middle of the room.

"Carlisle!" It's been too long dear friend." The vampire Heidi stood in between Aro and Carlisle and held out her hand which he took. I already knew what was transpiring so I wasn't worried yet. "Bella," he turned to look directly at me and I could tell that at that moment, had I been human, I would have been blushing.

"We were expecting you has a human. We made all of the necessary arrangements for you." Aro made an attempt at seeming hurt but there was a flash of something that twinkled in his eyes that I didn't trust. I prayed that my family didn't walk into a trap.

"I'm sorry for the wasted efforts. It was completely my fault, I was completely eager to truly begin a life with Edward. School was over and within a few decades, everyone I knew and loved would be dead. Except for the Cullen's. Waiting just seemed imprudent." Aro's eyes narrowed when I finished speaking. And even I was astonished by my words, but not out of shock, more at the fact that I sounded so diplomatic.

"Hmphf." A nicely trimmed eyebrow rose on Aro's face and he held out his hand to me. I tentatively placed my hand into his translucent and fragile looking one. I looked at him as he closed his eyes with a smile on his face. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath as we watched his smile slowly turn into a frown.

"Most excellent." I was a bit confused because Aro was still frowning but he seemed happy. Aro looked up at the rest of the Cullen's as if realizing that they were still here. "Heidi. I thought the couples were supposed to be split up. _In more ways than one_." He whispered in such a low octave that I was positive that none of my family could hear. I was already having a hard time hearing his words even though I was standing so close to him.

"Chelsea was there master." Heidi simply said before shrinking back behind Aro. Aro took a sweeping look at the timid vampire and returned his attention back to me. And smiled.

"I have an invitation for you dear. How would you like to serve with the Volturi?" Aro looked at me expectantly and I heard a hiss from Jane's lips. I dared to take a look at her, and I could see the sneer on her face. I actually toyed with the idea of joining them just to antagonize the petite vampire.

"No thank you Aro. As I stated before, I'm eager to marry Edward. And also, I must add, I'm a little put off of your diet. How do you stand it? You used to be a human once." I couldn't help but ask.

"My dear, that was a long time ago, and survival is a must." Aro's eyes were turning black, and I felt a surge of relief that I was no longer human. He might have taken a liking to my blood as Edward had. "What a pity that you will not be joining us. Perhaps you should spend some time with Chelsea. She can show you around, be your guide to our lovely city." I was beginning to wonder what Aro's reasoning for wanting me with Chelsea was when Carlisle spoke up.

"Speaking of time, old friend. How long to you require that we stay? Bella has already mentioned that we do not take to your diet, and I know you have remembered our previous discussions as well. And besides, the children are expected at university in a few weeks, and I also need to return to my job."

"And you tell me these things because, why?" Aro asked.

"I'm merely pointing out that now is not the time for an extended visit, unfortunately. We were told by Jane that we needed to act immediately and this could not have come at a more critical time as we're about to start our transition from our current town." Carlisle's confidence and sincerity oozed from his words.

"I do not pretend that I understand your fascination with living amongst humans, Carlisle. We are gods, and you amuse yourselves with their frivolities. I do not require much of your time. My guards will show you to your rooms. Carlisle, won't you stay and catch up with me and my brothers a while?"

Carlisle nodded and I felt Edwards grasp around my arm, pulling me back. "Are they going to do something to him?" I mimicked Aro's low tone from earlier so that only Edward heard me as we followed Chelsea and Jane to our rooms. Edward quickly shook his head but remained silent. Everyone was silent and I wasn't sure which was disturbing me more.

A few times while walking through the exquisite hallways that were outlined with beautiful tapestries, I'd feel tiny pricks of electricity but not physically, it was more like it was on the outskirts of my brain. I was suddenly getting worried when Edward would growl and then look at me.

"The rooms are soundproof, even to vampires. As you can imagine with so many vampires and so much time on our hands, we heard a lot of things. Use your imaginations." Jane said as she showed us which room each couple was assigned to. I wondered how she got this detail since she seemed to be the ruthless one of the guard.

The room that they gave me and Edward was humungous. It looked as though it was big enough to fit Charlie's house in it. There was a winding staircase that led to a stone walled bathroom with a roman bathtub. I was never much of a shopper, but the walk-in closet made me envious. I set my bag by the bed and I couldn't even help but to look at it wistfully.

"Bella, are you okay?" I furrowed my eyebrows together as I turned to look at Edward.

"Yeah, why?" I sat on the edge of the bed and looked up at him as he walked closer to me.

"You still didn't feel Jane's attacks on you?"

"Is that what that was? It felt like pins and needles on my brain, only it didn't hurt. It was more like, I don't know a sign or an alert or something. Like I needed to pay attention to something, but nothing ever seemed to happen. Everyone was just so quiet." I kept talking, and I noticed that Edward didn't seem to be listening to me. "Edward, are the rooms really soundproof?" I tried listening out but I didn't hear anything.

"We need to have a meeting." Edward said without answering my question. He went to the door and opened it up for the Cullen's, led by Alice.

"Alice, you're gift comes in handy sometimes." He bent over and gave her a kiss on the cheek as she ushered everyone in.

"I know silly." Alice danced into the room and plopped onto the bed next to me. I scooted a little that I fell into her embrace and waited for this meeting to begin.

"And yes Bella, the rooms are soundproof. Jane wasn't lying about that."

"Nice." Emmett said wiggling his eyebrows at Rosalie. I stifled a chuckle as Rosalie shook her head at her husband.

"The Volturi never had a need to have surveillance equipment either. So we don't have to worry about cameras or microphones in the rooms. However, the hallways are monitored so be careful of what happens there." Edward mentioned while taking a look around the room.

"Anyways, I wanted to see all of you to make sure you were all okay. Jane tried her gift on everyone but none of you seemed to feel anything." Edward explained. Which explained his growling now that I thought about it. She wasn't attacking me, she was attacking everyone.

"But why didn't we feel anything?" Alice asked before looking at me. Everyone's eyes followed hers and rested on me.

"Me? You think I had something to do with it?"

"Bella, what were you thinking of when we got here. To Italy, not just the castle." Edward asked, and it was almost like he was forcing me into the spotlight.

"I don't know. I kind of started to hope that we were all protected for whatever the Volturi had in mind. Maybe it was even a prayer, I don't know. It was like the longer we were all separated, the more anxious I got and the more I hoped we were all okay."

"Esme, do you think she's like Siobhan?" Alice asked

"Could be, but I doubt it. If she could just pick the outcome of what she wanted it runs inconsistent with her life as a human. I mean think about it, you never would have left her if that was her ability." Esme added.

Edward pinched his nose at the jab that Carlisle unintentionally delivered. "Maybe it just wasn't a strong gift that manifested after she changed."

"No. I think it's more of what has always been present in Bella. She's always protected herself from you Edward. And as we saw with Jane's visit, and our other friends, she was immune to their mental abilities. Now Jasper from a military point of view, what does that remind you of?" Esme looked to Jasper who suddenly seemed so proud at being mentioned as being an expertise with his military background.

"Yes, Esme, I think I know where you're going with this. A shield."

"A shield?" Both Edward and I asked at the same time.

"Yes, a shield. It's perfect. A mental shield. Aro couldn't read her, that's why he's so eager to get to Bella. But as for the rest of us, it's quite possible that she extended her shield around all of us." Jasper started talking and going on and on, but I focused on Edward. He was mulling over Esme and Jasper's theory and I could see he was starting to go along with it.

"I don't mean to interrupt you Jazz, but that does explain why Chelsea wasn't able to break us."

"Yeah what is the deal with that chick?" Emmett asked in all seriousness.

"Chelsea's gift is the ability to manipulate the bonds of people or vampires. Which is why they wanted us to be separate from our mates. They though the separation might make it easier for Chelsea to get in between our bonds. Basically, if Bella wasn't who she was as a shield, by all rights to Chelsea, Bella would be at a fitting for her Volturi robe right now." Edward explained.

"I protected all of you? But how? I don't know what I did."

"To be honest Bella, I think you can do more than that." Now it was my turn to pinch my nose at what Edward was saying to me.

"When we were being separated, I could have sworn I heard you say, 'I'm in love with you.'"

The gasp escaped my lips before I could even stop it. "You responded by saying 'you were in love with me too.' You heard me? You can hear me now?" I couldn't tell if that made me happy or sad. I was sad because I enjoyed that little bit of privacy between us. But I was also happy because now I didn't feel like something was wrong with me.

"No I can't hear you now, but Bella. But I heard you then. I've been thinking about it ever since. I think you can expand and retract your shield." Edward looked to Esme briefly before speaking again. "I can't wait to talk to Carlisle about this.

"Oh my gosh, I forgot about Carlisle. If what you're saying is true, then Carlisle is unprotected." I started to work myself into a panic, but Esme calmed me down, but I also felt a surge of Jasper's power as well.

"Carlisle can take care of himself. The Volturi won't do anything rash against him because he hasn't done anything wrong. None of us have. We were always planning on turning you, there was never any danger." Esme held me to her to reassure me, and I looked at Edward who seemed a bit pained.

"Now, I'm going to return back to my room and wait for Carlisle. I suggest that maybe everyone should take advantage of this down time." There was a sneaky twinkle in Esme's eyes as she got up and walked towards the door.

I could see realization setting in on Emmett as he started to wiggle his eyebrows at Rosalie. They ran out of the room together and soon after, Jasper and Alice left too. This was the first time that Edward and I were truly alone since my transformation, and there was only one thing that I wanted to do.

"Bella, what are you doing?" We had been kissing until I had pushed him onto the bed and straddled him.

"I'm kissing you." I leaned back into him but when he held his lips away from me, I leaned back up, smacked by rejection.

"You were taking my shirt off." I looked away from him, but I could still hear the crooked smile in his voice. "Bella, I'm sorry, but please look at me."

It was a strange feeling to know that I wanted to cry but I couldn't. I did as he wanted and looked him into his darkening eyes.

"Bella, I know what you want. Don't think that I don't want to either; cause I most certainly do. It's just, well, ok, you think we have souls, and I don't."

"Oh my God. You're still on that? I'm not a human anymore Edward. There should be no concern for my safety. Let's just do this and we'll talk about marriage later." I leaned back into his arms and started kissing him until he broke free again.

"Bella. It's not just your safety I'm concerned about. Let's just say, I am wrong, and we each have souls. How devastated do you think I'd be if the only thing that kept us out of heaven, kept you out, was the fact that we didn't wait for marriage. If there is a slight chance that we didn't miss out on heaven, I can't risk it. Not with you.

"So then, let's do it." I said, the words blurting out before I could stop them.

"Do what? Get married?" There was a slight chuckle behind his words. But I could see that he was regarding me, making sure I was serious.

"Yes. We'll get married. You don't seem as excited as I thought you'd be when I finally said those words."

"Bella, I am ecstatic. Trust me, it's just I have no guarantees that you're doing this to really be with me. Or just to get into my pants."

"Well, you're right. I only want you for your body." I did my best to imitate Mater from the Disney movie, Cars and I couldn't help but laugh. "Edward, I have no plans on leaving you. We have all of time to be together. If you want us to be married, then we're going to be married."

"!" I scrambled from on top of Edward as Alice came bursting through the bedroom door. It took me a moment to decipher that she spoke a string of words and not just one long word.

"Alice we're not going to get married here. Bella's family won't be here." I thought of Charlie not being able to walk me down the aisle and grew a bit sad at the thought.

"Oh posff. That only means we get to have two weddings. Carlisle can walk you down the aisle here, and when we get back Charlie can have you. No one in Forks has to know that you two were already married. It's perfect!" Alice was jumping up and down around the room and I was about to ask her something when she abruptly dashed out of the room saying she needed to ask Aro.

"Sorry about that, we were in the middle of, you know, when she got a vision." Without another word, Jasper turned back through the door.

Edward quickly got up and locked the door behind Jasper. "That should have been the first thing we did. Are you sure about this Bella? Knowing Alice, once she gets permission from Aro, she'll probably have something planned for tomorrow."

"Edward, the only thing I'm sure about is you."


	12. Chapter 12: Conspiracy

"Bella you look absolutely stunning!" Esme cooed as she watched Alice and Rosalie work their cosmetology magic on me. Aro had given permission to Alice to conduct the wedding in the castle only two days ago, and everything came together just this fast. Alice said that he seemed pleased that this was going to be the first wedding in the castle since over a thousand years ago.

"You really do. And I must say, Alice and I are exceptional at getting you ready. And to think we get to do this again in a few weeks." Rosalie said, but her eyes got ridiculously round when she realized she slipped up.

"What do you mean we're doing this again! I don't want to. I'm not." I realized I was pouting and having a temper of a two year old. "I thought you were kidding when you said this the other day. Alice, please don't make me have to go through this again." I was begging. I knew it, it was my only resort against a pixie who had already made up her mind.

"Bella, please sit still. And yes we're going to have another wedding, as soon as we can figure out how you're going to get back into Forks. But for now you're going to enjoy today because you look absolutely gorgeous." Alice and Rosalie backed away from me as Esme brought a full length mirror in front of me.

"Oh my gosh." I gasped as I saw myself for the first time. I was wrapped in a beautiful organza a-line dress that had lace embellishments in the bodice. A royal blue sash was tied into an extravagant bow. My makeup and hair were flawless. "Alice, I'm beautiful. Thank you both." I looked between Alice and Rosalie.

"Oh hush. You've always been beautiful Bella. You were a wonderful palette to work with. And I for one, am happy that you will be my new sister." Rosalie's words warmed me enough to wish I could blush or cry. I hugged her deeply until she had to push me away. "Not so tight," she said with a laugh.

"Are you ready dear?" Esme asked from the doorway. "It's just about time." I nodded and allowed her to lead me into the hallway as Rose and Alice rushed past us and headed towards the grand room. Esme leaned over and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"What was that for?" I returned her sweet smile with one of my own.

"For making Edward happy. For being you." Her smile grew wider and I knew she was wishing tears would fall to express how happy she was. "Bella it will be an honor to be your mother-in-law. Edward's happiness was something I used to worry about, and I haven't since you walked into his life. And under the circumstances, allowed him back into yours. You are a blessed addition to the family."

I hugged Esme, trying not to crush her and gave her a kiss on her cheek as well. "I had no choice but to let him back in my life. I was hopelessly in love with all of you. And it is an honor to me that you would have me in your family."

"You're such a sweetheart. I guess it's a good thing we can't cry, Alice would be fussing that we ruined our makeup." We laughed as we made our way to the lobby where Gianna's desk was. "And now I leave here with my darling husband." I looked behind me as Carlisle walked towards us. Esme tipped onto her toes and gave Carlisle a much different kiss than what she gave me and I wanted to blush for being in the same room as them. It wasn't a long kiss but still, they were minutes away from being my in-laws.

"Alright Bella, let's get you married." Carlisle exclaimed and Esme left to go into the throne room. I heard music swelling as the enormous doors were opened for us. I was astonished by the immensity of the all of the decorations. Alice had transformed the room into a winter wonderland complete with a light snow falling somehow from the ceiling. The aisle runner was a light blue, matching Rose and Alice's dresses, and it had a thin covering of snowflakes. Even though I normally hate anything cold or wet, this didn't bother me for several reasons: I'm no longer bothered by things that are cold and wet, and this moment, snow and all, had a magical quality to it.

I stopped looking around and found the one person that mattered. Edward. Suddenly, it seemed that me and Carlisle were walking too slow and I wanted to run to the front. Seemingly to sense what I wanted, Carlisle's hand clamped over mine, signaling me to stay put. "You wouldn't want to ruin this moment for me, would you Bella?"

"No, I guess not." I said with a slight pout.

"It's okay, Rose and Alice went through the same thing the first time they were married." There was a chuckle behind his lips and I smiled at my vampire father. My eyes returned to Edward's and the elation that flowed between us felt incredibly thick.

Finally, we reached Edward, and Carlisle passed me off to him. "I love you Bella."

He took my hand and we stood in front of Aro who began the ceremony. "I love you too Edward."

(_-_)

"So now, we need to figure out how to get Bella home without raising too much suspicion." It had been three days since the wedding and after letting me and Edward have two solid days to ourselves, Carlisle deemed it was time to decide what to do with me.

"Well, it's obvious I need to be found before you return to Forks. By at least a week. I mean you told everyone that you were going to be gone for two. Won't it look weird if you cut your trip short and return close to when I'm somehow back home?"

"No, Edward, she's right. It was already gossip that we decided to keep our trip so close to Bella's disappearance. If we were to return in the same manner, the talks would never stop."

"Edward, please. Let me have that one week alone with Charlie."

"What about the wolves? The treaty will have been broken in their eyes." Edward reasoned.

"I'll handle the wolves. Billy is family. He'll understand. I know he will. Just trust me."

Edward silently nodded his consent. And I looked back to Carlisle. "So how do I get back into Forks? What was the gossip about what happened?"

"The rumors were all over the place, from you running away from an abusive Edward to being kidnapped for ransom." Alice said with a smirk.

"Kidnapped for ransom? That's the best Forks could come up with? They do realize that Charlie is the police chief not some rich politician or something, right?" I asked incredulously. Getting back home was going to be harder than I thought it was.

"Well the most popular one at the hospital, was that your car was jacked and the carjackers thought it was easier to keep you than to let you go."

"Oh my gosh, Carlisle! That's genius. That's absolutely perfect." Rosalie suddenly entered the conversation. Everyone stared at her in confusion.

Rosalie rolled her eyes that we didn't follow where she was going with this. "We drop Bella off in Wyoming or some other random state. And she claims she escaped from the carjackers. I think it's beautiful."

"Yeah but the police are going to want to hunt them down. We can't give them someone who didn't commit the crime. Especially since we know there was no crime." Carlisle stated.

"She could describe Victoria and James. The humans will never find them, they're both dust."

There was a knocking at the bedroom door and Carlisle got up and let Aro and Marcus in the room.

"Carlisle, I've come to see about when you and your family will be taking leave."

"Old friend, we are actually working on that now. You see in order for Bella to go through the change, she faked her disappearance. We're trying to work her back in so that she can have a proper goodbye to her friends."

"Why do you need to return? Gather your things and move. You may also stay here my friend. This is a very big castle."

"I appreciate the offer Aro, but we do have differing views on our lifestyle. And we've made quite a life for us in the states." Carlisle then ran by Rose's possible solution by Aro who strangely seemed delighted.

"Well it seems you can't stage a rescue. The authorities will immediately want to send her to the doctors, and that would warrant some unnecessary attention on our kind." Everything Aro said made sense, and we all knew it. Even Rose's shoulders sagged at not realizing this detail.

"I think the only way that it would work out is if your two, quote/unquote kidnappers return her safe from harm." Aro said smugly.

"That's insane. The cops would never let them go, and who would be stupid enough to walk up to the chief of police and say here is your daughter?" Emmett's voice boomed.

"No that could work. Two random people just drop her off at the police station. They don't even have to speak to anyone." I could see the vision forming in her mind as her eyes drifted farther and farther from focus. "You'd be willing to lend us two vampires from your guard?"

"It was my idea, so of course. Corin and Alex may go with you. They could be sister and brother; they found your Bella alongside the road or something. I'll have Demetri draw up the necessary paperwork for them." Aro nodded towards Carlisle and walked out of the room.

"I guess that settles things. I'll describe Victoria and James as my attackers who knocked me unconscious afterwards and left me to die in a ditch. Then Corin and Alex found me with no I.D. and then brought me home. Still kind of sucks I missed graduation. But there's always next time, right?" I groaned audibly at the thought of going back to high school so soon.

"Bella don't forget, technically you graduated high school, so you can still attend college. You guys won't be in high school for at least another four years. And you and Edward can always take an vacation in between school." Esme's smile made it so hard not to trust her every word and I couldn't help but to smile back.

"I think Bella and Aro's guards should arrive in Forks before us. Humans can be simple sometimes but they can also draw some dangerously close conclusions. If we arrive at the same time as Bella, who knows what kind of stories they'll produce." I was drawn into Jasper's southern drawl that I hadn't really been paying attention to what he was actually saying.

"Wait, you want me to leave ahead of you and deal with everyone by myself? No. No, I can't, you guys all think I'm this horrible actress. There is no way I'll be able to do this without someone to lean on for support. No." My head shot up from Edward's chest at the suggestion.

Edward started patting my head and I felt a blast of Jasper's soothing gift calm me down. "No Bella. You said it earlier, we're expected to be gone for two weeks. We can cut our trip down a few days, but anything more than a week will seem suspicious."

"You can't leave me more than two days. Promise. You have to promise me." I looked frantically around the room, but everyone was looking at Carlisle, so I let my eyes rest on him as well.

Carlisle seemed to be thinking about this and for a second I thought he was going to shoot it down. But he simply nodded and gave a curt little smile.

"So we pack and we leave tonight. The sooner we get this over with the better. Bella, Corin, and Alex will leave on a flight that will stop in the Midwest somewhere and then into Seattle. We'll fly to Rio and with a layover of a few hours should put us a day or two behind Bella." Carlisle looked around the room to make sure we were all happy to be going home.

"And then in a few weeks, when everything has settled, we can have another wedding!"

"No, I'm not doing another wedding. I refuse."

"But Bella, if you don't get married, how are you going to explain sleeping with your husband every night. Charlie already objects to how much time you spend with Edward. If suddenly you're staying with us, after your horrible ordeal, Charlie will make things extremely difficult. For all of us."

I groaned again, knowing that she was right.

"See told ya!" Alice's smug voice went a pitch higher.

"I'll make the arrangements." Jasper simply said as he grabbed Alice and started for the door. I watched as everyone followed them out of the door, a smile creeping up on my face at the prospect of more alone time with Edward.

"And Bella, when we return to Forks, maybe we can work on your gift some more. Get you a little more control." Carlisle commented on his way out.

"So Mister Cullen, we'll be spending some time apart soon." I curled my fingers around his shirt and started loosening the buttons. "I think we should take some more time to enjoy one another."

His crooked smile spread to his eyes. "I think you're right Missus Cullen. And to think in a few weeks we get to do this all over again."

I couldn't control the hysterical laughter that escaped my lips. "Don't remind me." Edward carried me back to the bed and we made sure to enjoy ourselves before packing our bags.

"I love you." We both said at the same time. This was definitely the beginning to the end.

**The End**

_**A/N: As you could tell from the gaps in my posting that life was getting in the way of my time to actually sit down and write. So I think for the time being, I'm going to just relax from writing, and do more fanfic reading. If you have any suggestions for really good stories, message me. Also, I think I'm going to also take some time and revisit my previous stories that I mentioned wanting to do sequels to. So I'll keep you updated as more information becomes available for those stories. Hope everyone keeps reading and updating and writing!**_

_**Jshai  
**_


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